Only Hope
by Balshumet
Summary: After a year of unsuccessfully tracking the black organization, Jimmy is having trouble staying optimistic, until he meets her. Jimmy learns how to let go, how to love, and how sometimes hope is the only thing you have. Jimmy/Rachael Jimmy-Conan/OC
1. In Which A Meeting Takes Place

Balshumet: Well I've had this idea rolling around in my head for a while. I didn't realize a movie had been made off a similar idea until a friend mentioned it. Well I watched it and I, one don't like the ending, and two don't think the portrayal is very accurate. I mean Mandy doesn't even look sick the entire movie, full head of hair and everything. :s Yeah so I'm doing something kinda alike with Detective Conan. Why? Because I love that show! Any way I'll be throwing in my own cases, and I'll try making my own characters not a Mary-sue.

The story is rated for the depictions of crime scenes, gore, and language.

Now for the disclaimer:

I has Beta! She is a very cool cat, whose going to bring me out of grammar suck.

I do not own Cased Closed or any of the assorted characters used from that universe, they belong to Gosho Aoyama. They are used without permission, but I don't suggest suing me, as I am a very poor college student with no financial assets. (I.e. it would cost you more to sue me than you would get from me monetarily.)

Thoughts= 'blah'

Spoken= "blah "

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><p><strong>In Which a Meeting Takes Place<strong>

June 21, 1995

It was another bright and beautiful summer day in Beika city. Birds twittered happily, flowers blossomed in a confetti of colors, and children played in the long days of the months without school. The world was swirling with life all around the group of four kids walking calmly towards a park near the center of the bustling city. "So Conan now that school's out, what are you gonna do?" Amy inquired. Conan stared blankly ahead, oblivious to her question. He was lost in the tempest of his dark thoughts, a stark contrast to the bright day around him.

'One year. 12 months, 365 days, 8760 hours, 525,600 minutes, 3,153,6000 seconds. In such a period, so much could happen. So much _should_ have happened. What has changed in so much time?' Conan paused, realizing Amy had been talking to him.

" -Said, what do you want to do this summer?" Amy repeated impatiently.

"Oh well, I'm probably going to hang out with Mr. Moore. That way I can be there when the famous detective solves cases." Conan crooned with admiration. Amy smiled in return, happy to seemingly have his attention again. She continued on as Conan's concentration turned inward once again. 'Nothing.' Conan noted morosely answering his own question. 'I'm still a pint-sized pip-squeak. I have no real clue how deeply the black organization runs, or who any their members are. More importantly, while the cases are interesting, they are leading me nowhere. I wonder if I'll ever get to be Jimmy again.' Jimmy Kudo sighed then turned to look at Amy, who had once again stopped talking. Recognizing he had once again been asked a question, he turned the last few minutes of excited buzzing that had been Amy's voice into words in his head. "Yeah I'd love to go to the arcade with you guys, but we're already so close to the park. Maybe we can go there instead?" Jimmy offered with carefully constructed fake cheer. Mitch and Amy joyously agreed, while George complained about wanting to play video games.

"You're out-numbered!" Mitch pointed out with glee, and rushed towards the opening to the park across the street. Jimmy ran automatically after them, and into the green oasis of the park. The other members of the Junior Detective League ran towards the coveted spots on the swings. Jimmy took the opportunity of their distracted state to race towards the trees farther in the park, and well away from prying eyes.

'At least there I can think uninterrupted.' Jimmy reflected. He ran to a bench he often used for deep thought, and sat down with a huff. He took a moment to absorb his surroundings, half-heartedly hoping the cool calm area would help assuage the heat of his fervent thoughts. Light flittered through the thick canopy of the old trees and down towards the world's smallest detective. A gentle summer breeze ruffled the trees, sending bright green leaves spiraling towards the ground. Jimmy's eyes followed the leaves down to the bright pink colors of the Azalea blooms growing along the ground in pretty bunches. The entire grove was filled with them and their light purple counter-parts Wisteria. Usually, the colorful scene would lift even the most sour moods, but faced with the abject hopelessness of his life, Jimmy found the bright colors the opposite of soothing. The lovely colors of the flowers only served to darken his bitter mood, as it reminded him of the happiness life was currently trying its best to deprive him of. 'Its probably hopeless. I should just give up now and-' "Ow!" Jimmy's pity party was rudely interrupted by a rubber ball slamming into his head. Rubbing his head angrily, he began to look for the offending kicker. There was no one in sight for yards; the closest kids were playing on the swings near his new friends. Now concerned he was being watched, Jimmy warily scanned his surroundings. A fit of giggles followed by a surprised yelp drew his attention astonishingly into the trees. Looking up, he saw a pair of legs dive-bombing towards his current position on the bench. Thinking fast, Jimmy jumped from his place on the bench and to the grass in front of it. He turned with the rubber ball in hand ready to slam it into his supposed enemy, when Japan's greatest detective got his first look at his would be assailant. A girl about his age lay in a tangled heap on the bench he was just sitting on. Jimmy blinked astonished at the girl now shaking the leaves off her expensive looking uniform. 'She must go to a private school, and an exclusive one at that. I don't even recognize the colors. But-' "What were you doing up there?" Jimmy finished the rest of his thought aloud. The girl started primping herself, as she brushed the last of the leaves of her uniform. "Hello? I'm talking to you! Girl!" Jimmy cried as he motioned to get her attention.

The girl sitting on the bench fluffed her skirt before replying, " I am neither deaf nor dumb, there is no need to scream at me. I was well aware you were referring to me earlier, however your mode of address is quite inappropriate and more to the point rude." The girl paused to smooth her pressed shirt into the proper position. "It is not polite to demand something of someone with whom you have not been properly introduced." the girl spoke haughtily. Jimmy leveled an angry stare at the over dressed schoolgirl before him.

'Just who does this little Prima Donna think she is?' Jim wondered heatedly. "Hey all I want to know is if the 'Miss Cultured Pageant' winner has a reason to jump out of trees at people. I don't need the winning speech." Jim retorted.

"I refuse to answer any questions until you both apologize for your rude behavior and introduce yourself." the young girl returned his glare with equal heat. Jimmy bit off a nasty rejoinder, and opted to throw the ball instead. She grabbed the ball thrown at her with obviously practiced grace, and set it gingerly next to her on the bench. " I suppose you were not taught any manners. That is the only explanation for your attitude that I can fathom. Since you do not know any better, I will make an exception and introduce myself first. My name is Candace Scarlett Johansson. What is your name?" Candace added in the least condescending tone she had used since the beginning of the conversation. Put off by the juxtaposition of social niceties and singular insults, Jimmy only gaped at her in awe.

'The audacity! That little…' " Why do I owe you my name if you can manage to singularly insult myself and my parents at the same time? I don't think that's in any polite society rulebook. Besides, you probably think-"

"Don't you dare attempt to ascertain my reasoning! It is most likely beyond your ability, just answer my question politely and I will attempt to answer yours. That way I can leave you moping around about some perceived injustice, like you were doing earlier." Candace spat peeved at Jimmy's riposte. Jimmy glared irritably at her again, but decided to just go along with it to speed this unpleasant encounter along.

" Conan Edogawa." Jimmy answered curtly. Candace remained silent. 'What is she-' Jim's eyes lit up behind his glasses when he remembered the other stipulation of conversing with the spoiled brat before him. " I'm sorry." Jimmy said unconvincingly.

" Well I don't believe you, and you didn't say for what, but I suppose that will do." Candace stated as she stood from her place on the bench. " Pleased to make your acquaintance Conan Edogawa." She walked over to Jimmy and held out her hand. Jim looked at her for a moment, wondering where her anger had vaporized to, before shaking her outstretched hand. Candace pulled Jimmy to the ground, and then bounced the ball unceremoniously off his head, before catching it on the way back towards her body. "That was for trying to hit me with a ball. I forgive you." Candace said while placing a piece of sandy brown hair behind an ear. She placed the ball on her hip, and then extended her other arm towards Jimmy to help him up. Deciding to not take any chances, he stood by himself. " I think you are tolerable, much more so than other children my age. Would you like to talk?" Candace intoned like only a kid who had discovered something wonderful could.

'What is it with this girl? One minute she hates me, the next she wants to have meaningful conversations with me.' Jimmy thought bewildered by her odd attitude. 'At least she's honest about how she feels,' Jimmy considered. " I don't think so. In the few minutes I've known you, you have insulted me, attacked me twice, and forgave me like I was the one being rude. I could get teeth pulled and it would put me in a better mood." Jimmy grumbled while stalking off. Candace followed behind him until they reached the entrance to the grove. Jim turned to tell her to stop following him around, to find she was already gone. He turned around to find her standing in a crowd of toddlers.

" Here's your ball." Candace spoke gently while leaning down to hand over the red rubber plaything. " Now be careful and don't let the other big kids take it again. Ok?" Candace chided softly. The little boy she handed it to nodded vigorously before running to play with his new toy. Candace turned and tossed a smug glance over her shoulder at Jimmy before walking towards the front of the park. Jim got the message.

'Well what does it matter if she helps kids, that girl is still the biggest spoiled brat I've ever had the displeasure of meeting.' He observed. Jimmy glared the final bit of his anger out at the last spot she had occupied.

" Hey Conan where ya' been!" George screamed as he waved Jimmy over towards the swings where the rest of the Junior Detective League was playing. He determined to forget the weird encounter, and enjoy the rest of the day.

'It is the first day of summer after all.' Jim considered happily for the first time that day.

Later that day:

Jimmy parted ways with the rest of the Junior Detective League, as he walked up the stairs to the Moore apartment. He knocked on the door, and flashed a smile at Rachael, as she opened the door at his arrival. Jimmy took off his shoes, and walked into the living room of the apartment he shared with the Moore's. He was surprised to find Richard conversing with a couple on the couch. Sneaking into the room, Jim slipped behind the couch the couple was seated on to eavesdrop on the current conversation. "I was hoping you could help us locate someone for us. This person is an old friend of the family, a doctor in fact. We lost touch with him when we went back home, but we wanted to catch up with him again. We have an old picture…" The male part of the couple started as his wife rummaged for the picture in his purse. Jimmy peaked over the top of the couch, to get a better look at the couple. Looking over the top of the couch Jimmy got the surprise of the day.

'I don't believe it!' Jimmy thought shock written all over his features.

"Mr. Moore you did not say you had a son." A familiar voice intoned in a chair across from the couch the couple was seated on. There, sitting not three feet from him was the current annoyance that buzzed at his patience, Candace Johansson.

" I don't have a…" Richard Moore started absently before spotting Jimmy backing towards the door. " Oh that's just Conan. I'm watching the brat till his parents get back from working overseas." Richard stated flippantly. Jimmy sweat dropped and continued to back out of the room.

"Looks like I interrupted a meeting, sorry I'll come back later," Jimmy spoke quickly, turning to rush out of the room and running into someone.

"Hey Conan looks like you met Mr. and Mrs. Johansson." Rachael smiled down at him.

"Uh yeah, well I was just-"

"Spying on us?" Candace offered. Jimmy flushed, embarrassed at having been caught.

"Candace! That was very rude. I'm sure Conan has no reason to lurk around in his own home. Not only that, I'm sure he has better things to do than spy on people he doesn't even know." Candace's mother scolded loudly. Candace's smug smirk faded off her face.

"You are right mother. Forgive me Conan, I had no right to say that." 'At least without evidence.' Candace amended mentally. Richard laughed his trademark cackle turning the room's focus back to him.

"That brat is always lurking around places he doesn't belong. He probably _was_ spying, the little trouble maker." Richard chuckled through the explanation. "But back to the matter at hand, you were giving me a picture of that doctor?" Richard asked.

"Oh yes…" Candace's mother trailed off and ruffled through her oversized purse.

"Why does she have such a large purse for? Her daughter isn't a baby, so she wouldn't need to carry anything like bottles or formula or toys.' Jimmy observed. After a few more moments, Candace's mother found the picture she was looking for.

"Here it is." Candace's mother handed over the snapshot. While Richard looked over the photo as Jimmy wandered to his side.

"How old is this picture?" Jimmy asked as he snatched it from Richard. Richard knocked him over the head and took the picture back.

"It's about five years old." Candace's mother indulged.

"It was in the summer of '90 wasn't it Victoria?" Candace's father inquired.

"I think it was Anthony. That was such a nice summer, one of the best in my life I think." Victoria said as she reminisced about the past. Jimmy rubbed his head from his spot on the floor.

"You wouldn't happen to have a more recent picture would you?" Richard requested.

"Oh not with us. We didn't bring any more pictures with us. You see we were under the conclusion he was still here in Beika. He had a clinic here, but he apparently moved, and no one can tell us where. He practices a specialty, you see, so not many folks knew him. The ones that did, moved along with him I guess." Anthony finished with a sagely nod of the head.

"Oh well maybe you can tell me what he practices? It'll help my find him sooner."

"Certainly, he practices pediatric oncology with a specialty in leukemias and myelomas. Not a broad field I'm sure, so it should help you narrow it down." Anthony assumed. "It sure will. If you don't have anything else to add, we can conclude this meeting." Richard and prepared to usher them out of the apartment. "I'll call you when I get any leads, you do have a number I can reach you by on that page you filled out?" Richard asked. The Johansson's nodded in response, before scanning the room.

"Where has Candace gotten to?" Victoria wondered idly as her preliminary search of the room hadn't yielded her daughter. In another part of the apartment, Jimmy Kudo was thinking the same thing, albeit more crossly.

'Where has that little Prima Donna gotten to?' He had searched the front part of the apartment to no avail. 'I didn't even noticed when she slipped off.' Jimmy continued just as irately. Jimmy walked towards the back of the apartment, and then searched the bedrooms. He passed the open bathroom and continued towards the very back of the building. 'Can't be in the bathroom, and there's no way so passed me so where did she go?' Jimmy reasoned. Jim rounded a corner leading to the backside of the building and was once again surprised. Candace was just standing there in plain sight basking in the ruddy glow of the setting sun. Taking the moment to finally absorb in the appearance of someone he was coming to rue ever meeting, Jim was stunned. Candace's short sandy brown hair waved in the summer breeze, occasionally drifting over her forest green eyes. She was thin and tomboyish in appearance, despite the clearly feminine skirt and fitted blazer she wore. She was wearing flat slippers. By the time Jim had finished looking her over and made his way back to her face, she was staring pointedly into his eyes. Unnerved by the ferocity behind her gaze, Jimmy took a step back.

"You didn't have to embarrass me in there you know. Letting my mother chide me when you were the one spying, honestly one would wonder whether you have any friends at all." Candace uttered ardent about his part in her scolding.

"I wasn't spying." Jim maintained.

" You snuck into the room, when you thought no one was looking, crouched behind the couch my parents were sitting on, and listened to their conversation without so much as telling anyone you were there. Then you tried to sneak a peak over the top of the couch to get a good look at them." Candace stated. "If that's not spying, then tell me what constitutes espionage-like activity in your book?" she posed. Jimmy blinked in surprise.

'I thought no one even saw me enter, I was quiet enough.' Jimmy mused. " Well I guess you caught me, but if you knew all that, why didn't you just call me out?"

"I didn't have any real proof, just my word and your knowledge of the activities. It would be my word against yours, no one would believe me, though Mr. Moore might." Candace articulated, her eyes dancing with amusement. A few silent moments passed between the two children before Candace turned back to the sunset. " It is breathtaking." Candace mused. "They don't have sunsets like this in America."

"You lived in the States," Jim's curiosity getting the better of him. Candace hummed an affirmative in reply. Jimmy wandered distractedly to the edge of the railing next to Candace, taking in the beauty of the fading summer sun. The two stood in an amazingly companionable silence, till the last rays of the sun slipped below the horizon. The stars were beginning to twinkle in the sky, and Candace had taken an interest in them as well.

"Candace! There you are." Victoria Johansson shrieked. Her shrill voice broke the serene silence the two of them had been enjoying. Catching them both off guard, Mrs. Johansson stomped over to Candace and practically dragged her away from the railing. "You shouldn't wander off like that. You know I'll worry about you." Mrs. Johansson reprimanded, crying in a weird cross between desperation, relief, and anger.

"I'm sorry mother, but the view of the sunset was so lovely from the balcony-"

"A balcony!" Victoria shrieked again, suddenly absorbing her surroundings. "You'll catch a chill out her, lolling about out here." Victoria moaned dramatically while dragging her unwilling child behind her.

'Never mind it's the middle of summer.' Jimmy mused amused at the current situation. Jimmy followed them back through the apartment and into the living room.

"Mr. Moore we will see you in a few days. Have a good evening." Victoria huffed as she shooed her family out of the door.

"Well they seem…" Rachael started looking for the right word to describe them.

"I don't care what they are, as long as they pay." Richard finished the thought hanging in the air. " And where were you?" Richard grilled Jimmy. Jimmy sweat dropped at Richard's serious tone, and then shrugged his shoulders.

"Ah leave him alone dad. Come on Conan, it's time for bed. We need to go shopping early tomorrow and I don't want you grumpy again." Rachael said pushing him from the room.

"Ah but Rachael just a few more minutes! It is summer ya' know?" Jimmy tried uselessly. Before long Jimmy was rushed into bed. 'I wonder what is up with that girl?' Jimmy thought before he turned over and drifted off into sleep.

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><p>Balshumet: Yeah so Candace is an ass. :D I kinda want her that way, but don't worry she won't act that way forever, and not towards everyone. Besides her mom is an even bigger ass, you'll see in a few chapters. This is my first Detective ConanCased Closed fanfic, so tell me if my characterization is off. As always R+R.


	2. In Which A Road Trip Takes Place

Balshumet: Yeah so this is where I attempt to make up my own cases that don't suck. And where we get character development, Yay plot! It will be switching point of view from Jimmy to Candace, so you will get a glimpse inside the world from their view hopefully. I've never done first person so I'm going to try it. Oh yeah and Beika city is the actual city where Jimmy is supposed to live. I've read Tokyo in fanfics, but I looked it up to make sure and yeah. This story is just full of firsts huh?

Ok now for the disclaimer:

I do not own Cased Closed or any of the assorted characters used from that universe, they belong to Gosho Aoyama. They are used without permission, but I don't suggest suing me, as I am a very poor college student with no financial assets. (I.e. it would cost you more to sue me than you would get from me monetarily.)

The awesome sauce Japanese is brought to you by my Weaboo sister Kobanya. Nah, I'm just kidding, she's no weaboo, but she is my Beta.

Thoughts= 'blah'

Spoken= "blah"

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><p><strong><span>In Which a Road Trip Takes Place<span>**

Jimmy's POV

June 28, 1995 9:30am

'This last week sure has flown by. I wonder if Richard has any leads.' A slam issuing from the front of the apartment got my attention. 'Well, Richard's home.' I stood from the chair I had been finishing breakfast at, and walked over to the kitchen sink. 'I just can't seem to get her out of my mind. She's infuriating, arrogant, cold, and polite all at once. How does she manage it?' Frustration welled to the surface for not the first time while I scraped the scraps into the trash. I watched as Richard danced through the house, obviously delighted with himself. 'I guess he found a lead. The only time he's this happy is when there is either money, booze or women involved.' The cold sting of objectiveness then washed over me. 'Yeah that's a nice thought about someone who could be your future father-in-law, Jimmy.' I shook my head, trying to rid myself of my sullen thoughts. I placed the plate in the sink, settled my hands behind my head, and marched playfully up to Richard. 'If he can be in a good mood then so can I.' "Hey, Mr. Moore, why are you in such a good mood?" I couched my question in cheerfulness. 'Hopefully that will placate the drunkard.' Richard's eyes were swimming with warmth that wasn't from over-consumption of alcohol. 'That means its money.'

"Well, Conan, since you asked, I just got a huge break from that missing person case for the Johansson family. I found the guy and his new address, so now I can contact them and get paid." Richard's obnoxious cackle filled my ears, and I struggled not to groan.

"That means you just have to call them, right? Then they'll go to meet their doctor friend?" I wondered cheerfully this time. 'I may not have to see that girl after all.'

"Yup, that's it." Richard crooned. He picked up the phone from the receiver and started talking with someone on the other line. I noticed his hands shaking.

'He isn't nervous, must be angry. Maybe they are trying to skip on the bill?' Vindictiveness swam through my system. 'It would serve him right for how badly he treats me.' Richard stuttered a bit, hung up the phone and stalked over to the counter where he kept the car keys. 'Why is he-?' " Hey Mr. Moore, where ya going?" Richard turned to face me.

"We have been invited to dinner." Richard stated plainly.

I felt shocked, "What!"

"Yeah, apparently they want to thank me with dinner for the whole family including the doctor. They are calling him right now, and are going to meet him somewhere near his new address so we can all celebrate." Richard groaned, it sounded exasperated. "You wouldn't believe who suggested it too."

"Who?" I asked, curiosity running through my bones.

"That Candace girl of theirs. Said it would only be proper to treat us to dinner, for all my hard work." Richard's face took on a dark look. "I just want my money!" Richard's mournful cry did little to play at my heartstrings.

'I have to spend a whole day with Princess Prima Donna! Boy, and I thought my luck was bad before.' A mix of anger and dejected acceptance overtook my current emotional state. Rachael walked into the room, her aura nothing but rainbows and butterflies.

"Hey Dad." Rachael gave Richard her customary good morning. I followed Rachael's eyes to the keys in his hands.

'Yeah, we're going on a road trip'

"Going somewhere, Dad?" Rachael asked the question she should already know the answer to.

"Yeah, _we _are. The Johansson's have invited us to dinner, and I couldn't talk us out of it. We have to go along-all of us, missy-and play nice so daddy can get his money from the very rich folks." Richard seemed to be patronizing her from the tone in his voice. "Come on, brat! Let's go!" Richard pointed in my direction then stomped off towards the door. Rachael looked down at me, smiling as if to apologize for Richard's behavior, and grabbed my hand.

"Come on, Conan, let's just get this over with." Rachael said and ushered me out the door. The car ride was in silence, thankfully, giving me plenty of time with my unorganized thoughts.

'Why would she want me to come along? There's no doubt I'm the one she's after, or she wouldn't have invited the whole Moore family. Then there are her parents. We were only gone for twenty minutes, but the house isn't that big. They should have searched the back of the apartment long before they did, and what was with her mom's reaction. She was way too concerned with-Cadence? Carrie? - or whoever, being outside. Then there was her purse, and the old photo. Mrs. Johansson's purse was like something you would keep for an infant, and the photo was over five years old. If they had other more recent photos, why did they bring that one on their trip in the first place? None of it is adding up, and the longer I'm around them, the stranger they get.' Light flashed through the trees as we traveled out of the city. A splash of it illuminated Rachael's face and stopped my thoughts in its tracks. 'Never mind the rest of the world. If I could spend the day with an angel like you, it would be worth a lifetime trapped like this. I just wish I could tell you how much I-' the car stopped. The sudden change in movement prompting me to voice the age-old annoying question, "Are we there yet?"

"Actually, brat, we are here; at the Johansson residence anyway. The Johanssons are driving us the rest of the way, so I don't have to waste gas." Richard practically griped. I unbuckled my seat belt and stepped onto the large grounds of the Johansson Estate. A perfectly manicured lawn stretched out in front of me, dotted with topiaries shaped like fanciful animals from far off shores. Pretty, floral landscaping dotted the lawn, as gardeners attended the low shrubs and trees.

'The scene is obviously meant to wow. I can say I'm unimpressed.' I walked on the cobblestone path behind Richard and Rachael up to their large oak door. Richard knocked, utilizing his usual tack, and scared everything with a 50-foot radius of him. A butler answered the door and silently led us inside; Richard has already made abundantly clear who we were with his screaming. The butler led us into a drawing room, where the Johanssons were waiting for us. Then I saw her, the little annoyance that was becoming a big headache. 'She's smiling. That can't be a good thing.'

Candace's POV 10:30am

'So, Mr. Moore decided to bring him along: the brown-haired boy who currently held my honed focus. There was something about him. He was captivating, in a dull, childish kind of way. He was rude, uncultured and a little mean, but there was just _something _about him. There was intelligence, a maturity hidden beneath those glasses, and something I can't yet place. I _will_ place it. I have never failed cracking a puzzle yet, and he is looking like a good one.' I heard feet shuffling behind me. My father got up and began closing the distance to Mr. Moore, his hand already out-stretched. My mother walked behind him, obviously headed for Mr. Moore's daughter. 'What was her name again? Started with a 'R,' I think…' I turn my attention back to little Conan, and he was glaring daggers at me. 'Guess he doesn't like me. It really matters little. Once I've satisfied my curiosity, I'll leave him alone.' I walked over to join the rest of the group milling about in the entrance to the drawing room. " Hello there, Mr. Moore, so happy you could join us." I spoke with a disarming smile on my face. Mr. Moore looked down at me a fake smile was plastered on his face, eyes smoldering with fury.

"If it isn't the little girl who suggested this little outing. You wouldn't mind telling me why you wanted us to come along, would you?" Mr. Moore stared down at me.

"I wanted to know how the famous detective Richard Moore solves his cases. I heard all about you, and I'm afraid this was all a ruse to learn more about being a detective. I want be one when I grow up, you know?" I slathered on the compliments. 'Never mind, it has nothing to do with you.' I beam one of my perfect, high beam smiles at him, and turned my attention to Conan. Mr. Moore started cackling, and declaring is amazing ability. I ignored it. "It must be great to be near this living legend." I smiled sweetly at him.

"Yeah, well, you get used to it after a little while." Conan said looking, no, gazing intensely, into my eyes.

'Still don't like me, eh? So you're the wary type. That's fine. I don't need you to like me to understand you.'

"Shall we go? I want to get there in time for dinner. He is in Osaka, so if we leave now we can get there by 4:00pm, more than enough time to get together for dinner," My mother offered, waving us all towards the door. We walked in pairs. Mr. Moore and his daughter first, then my parents, then my enigma and me last. My mother groaned irritably, a frown forming on her face. " Where is that blasted limousine? It was supposed to be here a half an hour ago," my mother grumbled.

"Don't worry, love. I'm sure it will arrive in a…Ah, look! There it is now." My father noted happily. Sure enough, the black monstrosity turned the corner onto the driveway of our Japan estate. The limo stopped in front of our group and the driver ran around to open the backdoors, muttering apologies about traffic and the like. Before long, we were all seated inside the limo and on our way, though Conan made it abundantly clear he didn't wish to sit by me. He positioned himself in between Rachael and my father, leaving me to settle beside Richard and my mother. 'It's just fine if you don't want to sit next to me, Conan. It is much easier to interrogate someone when you are looking them dead in the eyes.' I beamed over in his direction to get his attention. He looked over at me. 'Good.' "Conan, how long have you been in the Moore's care?" Conan looked surprised; his eyes widened just a bit. 'Had you thought I'd forgotten?'

"Just a little over a year…" Conan rubbed his head, eyes averted.

'Shy? Embarrassed?' His fiery gaze caught mine, 'or just the pretense of it.' "That's right, Mr. Moore did say your parents were overseas. What is it your parents do?" More surprise, I was getting better at reading him.

"They, um, work with foreign banking, I think. I'm not really sure. Whatever they do, it always keeps them busy. I never got too much time to spend with them, just mostly with the nanny and tutors." Conan finished the last sentence, his inflection a little higher than normal.

'Lying then. You don't want me to ask anything else about your parents. Why?' "That sounds sad." I said, truly sympathetic. 'My own life mirrors that sentiment too well.'

"Well now I'm living with Rachael and Mr. Moore. Its a lot different, but nice all the same." Conan finished with a small smile gracing his lips.

'That's the first genuine thing he's said this whole ride.' My mother pulled out her cell phone, and dialed a number. 'But she only dialed after much searching through her phone. Who is she calling that she doesn't know that well?'

"Hello?" my mother said. A pause. "Oh yes, so you'll be able to join us at 5? That is just great! See you soon Eiji." My mother stopped talking then hung up the phone.

"Mother, who was that?" I asked, curious as usual.

"Oh, it was Mr. Tanaka. I was calling to make sure he could actually join us for dinner." My mother said deftly.

"So early? Its only 12:30." Conan asked after looking at his watch.

'Guess he's the curious type too. Not surprising considering-'

"He is a busy man, at least he was when I last saw him. It would be a courteous thing to do to call him, being a doctor especially, before hand. I know we are dropping in on him, but I didn't want to get far into the trip and find out that he's too busy." My mother finished the explanation with a cloying tone. Conan looked mollified; at the very least he looked out the window nearest him. This was a good time to try asking him something else.

'As good a time as any.' "So where do you go to school?"

Jimmy's POV

'Can't this girl take a hint? I know she must be smarter than she lets on. She caught that I was lying earlier; I could see the recognition in her eyes. So why didn't she-' " I go to Titan Elementary School." I said dismissively. 'Hopefully, she takes this cue… Why didn't she call me on it? She had the chance to make me pile on the lies, even to catch me in one, so why not? She acted like she just wanted to humiliate me the last time we met. Why so different? And what-'

"Conan, I'm sure your thoughts are most interesting, but I believe we were having a conversation. Do you think you could peruse your daydreams later?" That smug smile was back again, and that spark in her eyes.

'Challenge. That what it was before, and that's what she wants now.' I turned to face her, a little of my childish mask slipping. 'I was never one to disappoint an audience.'

_Three Hours Later:_

The last three hours taught me a lot about her. She was arrogant, brilliant, cloying, determined, earnest, fervent, and the whole rest of the alphabet of layers, interest, and annoyance. 'The more I know about her, the bigger the puzzle gets. At least she'll make a good Go or chess adversary.' I sighed and turned to face the window again. 'If I'm this lucky she'll just leave me be this time,' but a part of me that was the better judge of character knew that wasn't true.

"Little Detective?" She had settled on that as my new nickname.

"What?" I snapped at her.

"No need to be rude. I was just wondering something. You know detectives right? From all over? You made quite the fuss over it earlier." She spoke, reminding me of a tangent of the conversation involving a comparison between Sherlock Holmes, government intelligence agencies, and police officers in terms of effectiveness. I shivered. I had lost that round.

"What about it?" I settled for a tone between annoyed and curious.

"Well I was wondering if you've heard of a Japanese detective?" If she had noticed the frustration creeping into my voice, she didn't show it.

"Well, how am I supposed to tell you whether I knew or not if you don't tell me who it is? I'm no mind reader." She smiled that smug smirk again. 'Disagree eh? You're not the only one getting better at reading body language.'

"A Jimmy Kudo." She batted her eyes innocently at me. Luckily, I had an old lie all prepared.

"I'm actually a distant cousin of Jimmy's." I offered glowing, knowing I had that lie in the bag.

"Oh really? On which side?"

"What?" I felt my body go cold, my hands go numb, and my heart race. 'I've never actually determined on which side!' "My father's side. Yeah, that's where I get the family resemblance." If she was going to say something to that, I'll never know. Mrs. Johansson got another call in on her cell phone, and let out an awful squeal. After only a moment, she started talking excitedly into the phone, effectively drowning out any other chance at conversation.

" That's just great Atsuko, we'll see you soon." Mrs. Johansson finished her exchange with the snap of the closing phone. She saw me staring at her and offered, "That was Dr. Tanaka wife. She'll be meeting us at her office inside the Umeda district of Osaka. We'll be there shortly." I checked my watch. 'It's finally 3:30, and that means I only have to spend another half an hour with this devil in a dress.

"Little Detec-"

Mrs. Johansson snapped waspishly at her unsuspecting daughter, "Oh for goodness sake, Candace, enough! You have been badgering that boy this entire car ride. All I want now is some peace and quiet, so you'll have to make due with silence and whatever you talked about earlier." Candace flushed, with anger or embarrassment, I couldn't tell which.

'It's not as if it matters. Knowing her, this is going to be my fault.' My thoughts took a morose turn, as the last 30 minutes passed in silence. The limo slowed to a stop outside a large office building. 'This is the Osaka World Trade Center. It's gorgeous and brand new. I wonder what she does here?' After a few minutes, a woman in a crisp black business suit and skirt walked up to the limousine doors. Mrs. Johansson rolled down a window.

"Atsuko?"

"Hey, Victoria. Long time no see." The woman called Atsuko slid into the limousine seat next to Candace. Atsuko looked around the cabin at everyone seated inside. "Konbanwan. Watashi wa Atsuko Tanaka-san desu. Doozo yoroshiku."* Mrs. Tanaka finished with a small smile, and extended a dainty hand to shake the hands of the adults in the cabin. To everyone's surprise, Conan replied with, "Konbanwan Tanaka-san. Watashi wa Conan Edogawa desu. Doozo yoroshiku. O-genki desu ka?"* Mrs. Tanaka seemed surprised, but replied smoothly, "Aaa, o-kagesama de genki desu."* Candace eyed Conan curiously after the exchanged, but said nothing, still stinging from her mother's reprisal. After the initial introductions, the cabin traveled in relative silence, punctuated by Mrs. Tanaka and Johansson's soft chatting. The car made another stop soon after at another office. " This is my husband's office. I'm going to go in and get him. That way we can just go to dinner directly afterwards." Mrs. Tanaka said amiably. She got out of the car, with Mrs. Johansson not far behind. She leaned her head into the cabin and said,

"I have some business to attend to. I'll meet you all at the restaurant." With that, she stalked off and out of sight.

'I wonder what-' Mrs. Tanaka returned with a frown on her delicate features.

"What's wrong?" Richard asked the question that was obviously on all of our minds.

"It's strange, Eiji isn't here. He came in for work today, but didn't return after lunch. One of his receptionists said he called in sick and said he wouldn't be coming back after lunch. It's so unlike him to miss work for any reason." Mrs. Tanaka frowned deepened, but she said no more.

'That's odd. Maybe he got food poisoning. If he did, I won't trust any suggestions from his family.' I felt a distinct pang of nausea run through me at the thought of a five-hour trip back with food poisoning. The car took several turns up the winding roads towards the edge of the city. The trip to the outskirts of the city from Umeda and deeper into Kita took another hour, due to the traffic heading home and out of the business district. Finally, around 5 o'clock, we reached the Tanakas' large house near the northern edge of Osaka. More than eager to stretch my legs after such a long trip, I nearly stepped over everyone else to get out. Richard grabbed me and sat me back down beside Rachael.

"I don't think so brat; ladies first," Richard said with a cheesy grin plastered on his face.

'I didn't know Richard knew the meaning of politeness. Maybe he's hoping the Tanakas have a daughter.' Richard practically had me pinned to the seat, while Rachael, Mrs. Tanaka, and Candace got out of the car. I gasped as air went whizzing past me and I was thrown unceremoniously to the ground.

"Conan!" Rachael gasped at my sudden arrival at her feet.

" You should be more careful, tripping over yourself like that. You'll get yourself hurt one of these days." Richard expressed vindictively, while stepping out of the car. Mr. Johansson tipped the driver, and sent him on his way. The group was already wandering to the front of the Tanaka house. Candace moseyed up beside me, and started walking in step with my pace.

"So Co-" She started only to be interrupted by a scream. I rushed up the stairs leading to the front door.

'Its already open.' I looked into the entrance to find Mrs. Tanaka on the floor near the back of the room, and something cradled in her lap. She was sobbing uncontrollably. "Mrs. Tanaka what's wrong?" I asked while racing to get to the other side of her. Mrs. Tanaka looked up at me, while my eyes traveled down to the something in her lap.

"Eiji's…"

'Mr. Tanaka is-'

* * *

><p>Balshumet: Yup that's it. No I didn't forget anything; I like cliffhangers. I know it's mean, but it had to be done. Plus this chapter was getting long. I want to move on to the next one. That one has a case in it, and I know you all like cases. I mean why else do you watch Detective Conan? Oh and I realize that the color font actually transfers online, but not the type. So I think dark blue is a good color for Conan and still easy on the eyes. If my readers have a preference tell me. As always R+R.<p>

*Konbanwan=good evening

Doozo yoroshiku=It's a pleasure to meet you.

Watashi wa=I am or my name is, but that's really Namae wa (both can be used)

O-genki desu ka?=How are you feeling?

O-kagesama de genki desu=I'm fine, thank you.


	3. In Which A Murder Takes Place

Balshumet: Ah… now on to the murder mystery, or at least part of it. I think this will be at least two chapters of case work and character interaction. This one is just flying out of me, not like my Yu Yu Hakusho one, or that Avatar one I haven't touched in months. I'm already about half the size of the longest one and this is only 3 chapters. Hm? Ah well, this chapter is back in third person, because I'm switching between that and character's POV for an interesting effect. The devil is in the details with this case. I will try to do the same with all of them. Now for the Disclaimer:

I do not own Cased Closed or any of the assorted characters used from that universe, they belong to Gosho Aoyama. They are used without permission, but I don't suggest suing me, as I am a very poor college student with no financial assets. (I.e. it would cost you more to sue me than you would get from me monetarily.)

My Beta is good to me. Fixing all of these in one day.

Once again:

Thoughts: 'Blah'

Spoken: "Blah"

* * *

><p><strong><span>In Which a Murder and a Misunderstanding Take Place<span>**

Yellow tape crisscrossed the entire estate from the front lawn to the back yard pool. Sirens flashed crimson and azure, painting the area in alternating light. Blue-uniformed men and women swarmed the interior of the house, taking pictures and samples, cataloguing everything from the rafters to the basement. The sun was dipped low on the horizon, its reddened rays casting a blood stained shadow on the traumatized neighborhood. Neighbors and passersby stood on their lawns; captivated by the officers casing* the place. Crimes like this didn't happen in the gated communities where the Tanaka's lived. In the middle of all the chaos, Mrs. Tanaka sat in an emotional heap. "So let me get this straight. You come home and find your husband's body just laying in the middle of the floor, and there was nothing unusual that happened today," The lead officer questioned. Mrs. Tanaka's shoulders heaved in shuddering gasps as she tried to catch her breath.

"T-that is correct. We left for work this morning, the same time as usual, and spoke a little before lunch. Nothing at all seemed amiss until I arrived at his office earlier today. I was with a group of friends from out of town, and we were all going to dinner. The receptionist at the desk said Eiji had called out sick around three." Mrs. Tanaka huffed a little and suppressed another sob. " I got here to check up on him before dinner. It wasn't like Eiji to miss work, so I figured he must have been feeling awful to call out sick. I…I opened the door…and there w-was blood everywhere. He was… lying in a pool of it on the-and the floor was so…red. I'm sorry." Mrs. Tanaka finished relating her story to the head officer and dissolved back into broken sobs.

"Well that's an awfully interesting story Mrs. Tanaka, but I still have some questions to ask you. Such as, why did you move the body?"

"I ran over to him to check for a pulse, at first I thought… he was still alive, but wh-when I got closer…"

"You were the first person on the scene, and you moved the body, that's very suspicious to me." Mrs. Tanaka's shoulders tensed, and her breath caught in her throat.

"You couldn't possibly think-"

"Officer Hartwell! We found another possible victim, she's in the kitchen." Officer Hartwell and Mrs. Tanaka rushed into the kitchen, and found a young women lying on the floor.

"Emiko!" Mrs. Tanaka gasped.

"You know this women," Officer Hartwell asked.

"I do. She is my husband's morning receptionist. We have been friends since he started his new office here. I don't know what she's doing here though."

"Officer. Who found this women?"

"Well sir…" Hartwell's underling ruffled through some papers. His face scrunched up, brows knit in concentration. "Well a Richard Moore, sir."

"Where is this Moore? I want to speak with him." No sooner had Officer Hartwell finished his sentence than Richard made a sudden, and rather inexplicable, entrance into the room.

"Did someone ask for me?" Richard smiled indulgently at his would-be audience.

"Yes I did. Are you the person who discovered the body?" Officer Hartwell turned, stony faced, towards Richard.

"I did sir, and if you ask me, I think we have double murder on our han-"

"And who are you to say that?" Officer Hartwell interrupted.

"Well I'm glad you asked, I am the famous Detective Richard Moore." The rest of the room stared at him blankly, with dull fish like eyes.

"Surely, you've heard of me? I solved that television station murder."

"Hmm. So you're that Detective Moore. Well since you're here, you can assist us in our police work. But, hear me out Moore, get in the way or compromise this investigation, and I'll have you keel-hauled so fast you won't have the time to do your famous fainting routine. Got me?" Officer Hartwell punctuated his last sentence with a point of a finger and flying spittle.

" I hear ya loud and clear, and I promise I'll have this case solved by the end of the night." Richard posed with a look of grim determination on his face. Mrs. Tanaka walked towards Emiko's pale body.

"Alright Moore, you can start by checking with all the officers taking inventory, so you can look at the evidence. Make sure you wear gloves before you touch anything!"

"Don't patronize me, I was a police-"

"Officer! Emiko's still breathing! I think she's coming to." The room was suddenly filled with half the house's occupants, with the two detectives pushing their way to the front. There was an uproar of noise as the combination of police and civilians crowded to get a view of the women lying on the kitchen's granite tile.

"Emiko. Emiko wake up dear." Mrs. Tanaka shook her semi-conscious friend in an attempt to rouse her further.

"Er…um. What's going on?" Emiko grabbed her head and slowly pushed herself into a sitting position with Mrs. Tanaka's help.

"Quiet! Quiet everyone. Officers get these civilians out of here. You, " Officer Hartwell pointed to one of the many scurrying subordinates, " Call that ambulance and tell them to high tail it! We have a live one here."

"Yes sir." Officer Hartwell paused in his order-giving tirade,

"Now Emiko, that is your name correct?"

"I… um. Yes sir."

"Good. Now do you think you can tell me where you are? " Officer Hartwell started flashing a light in her eyes.

" I believe I am in my employer's house in Kita, right outside Osaka. I can't quite recall how I got here…do you think you can stop flashing me with that light?" Emiko frowned and shielded her eyes from the handheld flashlight Officer Hartwell was brandishing.

"Well your pupil reaction times seem to be fine. Let me take a look at-"

"Ms. Emiko! What is your relationship to the victim, and what are you doing bleeding in his kitchen!" Richard brazenly interrupted.

"I…I mean." Emiko held her head.

"Damn it Richard! She's an injured witness, and our only one. I'm warning you, mess this up and-"

"She's the prime suspect in murder case and-"

"She wasn't even in the same room! And she has a bullet wound to her thigh. You expect me to believe she over powered a man twice her size and shot him?"

"You don't need to be strong to shoot someone, just fast."

"Oh really? With what weapon Mr. Moore? She doesn't have a gun anywhere near her and neither did the victim, and with her leg in this condition there's no way she could have run and hidden it. Now do me a favor and observe quietly, while I see if I can attend her wounds somehow."

"I'm here to help you by your request. If you'd just let me-" Richard and Officer Hartwell continued arguing their points.

'Sounds like Richard has already gotten into an argument with the lead detective on the case. In his defense this took longer than usual.' Jimmy reflected. A lopsided grin graced his face. The din of hurried voices had finally faded into a hush of whispers. Only a few of the remaining lead officers and members of the group that had traveled from Beika remained in the house. Taking stock of the remaining group of people loitering around the inside of the house, Jimmy's eyes traveled to the place the body was found. 'What's this?' Jimmy walked over to examine the area around the body. White chalk defined the area where Eiji Tanaka died, showing the exact placement of his limbs. Blots of black and brown blood covered the region around the chalk, in the relative position it had oozed out of the doctor's dying body. 'There are bullet holes all around here. From the muzzle flash, they were shot at point blank range. Someone must have really wanted him dead to shoot so close, but either they have bad aim, or-'

"They were trying to miss." Candace stood smiling behind Jimmy. "At least that's what I think. Don't you?" She leaned down next to him and pointed to three holes shot haphazardly around the victim's limbs. "These are nowhere near the actual body. They are close enough for someone to have been aiming in his general direction, but they definitely weren't trying to hit him." Candace finished her deduction and crouched in silence next to Jimmy.

"Well I concluded the same thing, from slightly different clues, but still the same. If you ask me, this whole thing is off. The door was open when Mrs. Tanaka got here, but there is no sign of forced entry. In fact, from what the officer's said, there's no sign of forced entry anywhere in the house. The police are thinking a break-in, but it doesn't feel right, and these bullet holes are just more proof of that."

" It was open? Huh. We-" Candace was cut short by one of the few remaining officers,

"You kids get away from there! You could destroy some evidence." He screamed and waved a fist at them, before sprinting towards the crime scene. Jim's eyes got wide behind his glasses.

" Come on!" He grabbed Candace's wrist and practically picked her off the ground in his rush to get away. The two settled across the room from the main crime scene, and shared a look over the enthusiastic officer.

"Conan! Candace! Get over here." Rachael motioned widely with her arms. "You two shouldn't be messing with evidence and getting in the way." Rachael looked around for a few seconds before adding, "You don't happen to know where my dad is?"

"Well if you don't want my help, then I'll be happy to leave!" Richard declared before stomping from the kitchen and into the foyer again. Officer Hartwell, Mrs. Tanaka, and Emiko followed him.

"You're not going anywhere Moore! Not until I get a statement from everyone here." Officer Hartwell turned to address the small group of people left standing in the devastated house. "Everyone left here is either directly related to the deceased or the last people to have had contact with him. Now no one here is being suspected of anything, but in order to find out who perpetrated this heinous crime we need as much information as we can get. No one is allowed to leave until we get everyone's statements, so we'll try to get this done quickly. My assistant and the secondary officer for this case," Hartwell nods towards a black haired man with a clipboard, "is Officer Mackavitch. He'll be taking down all of your statements for use later. Officer Mackavitch, if you could review all the pertinent evidence for me and… Mr. Moore." Officer Hartwell groaned out Richard's name and rubbed the bridge of his nose; he was getting annoyed.

"Certainly sir. We arrived on the scene at 6:00pm after a call from this residence at 5:15pm. When we arrived we collected evidence from all of the rooms, the most important evidence is as follows:

The gun used to shot the victim, from the bullets recovered, was a .45 caliber gun of some make and model. There were 5 round fired. Two into the victim's back and three into the area were the victim was standing. The house is in disarray and appears have been ransacked. From this information, and the fact that no doors or windows were broken into and the alarm was off, we have concluded it was a high-end robbery gone wrong. The time of death for the victim was estimated to be 2-3 hours ago."

"Thank you Officer Mackavitch. I'd like to start taking statements from everyone. If we could start with Mrs. Tanaka then go counter-clockwise, we'll have everyone out of here quickly. Just for the record start your name, age, profession, and relation to the deceased." Officer Hartwell nodded towards Mrs. Tanaka to start.

"My name is Atsuko Tanaka and I'm 42 years of age. I work at Nikken Sekkei Ltd. and am Eiji's wife. Like I've told several officers, I left today with my husband around 7:30 this morning. I got to work and called him a little before lunch. Finally, I left my office in the Osaka world trade center around 4:00 this afternoon, and got to my house around five o'clock."

"Was there anything unusual-"

"No Officer Mackavitch, like I've said at least a dozen times already, nothing unusual happened today. I left for work, had lunch, met up with friends, and drove home, nothing else."

"Mrs. Tanaka there is no need to be hostile. I have to ask several questions for the record, it would help immensely if you were to calmly-"

"Calmly!" Mrs. Tanaka shrieked. " I just found my husband dead in the foyer and you expect me to answer questions like a robot? How many times to I have to tell you nothing unusual happened today. This could be any other day… except my Eiji's…" tears began rolling down Atsuko's face.

"Alright. We understand Mrs. Tanaka. We will try to keep this brief. Just a few more questions." Officer Hartwell dipped his head towards Officer Mackavitch again. "Please continue."

"There were no problems in your relationship?"

"None. We were getting ready to celebrate our 20 year anniversary."

"I understand you have a son Mrs. Tanaka," Officer Mackavitch paused and glanced around the room, "you wouldn't happen to know were he is?"

"My son, Hideki, is supposed to be at a friend's house. I called him an hour ago, but his friend lives nearly an hour and a half away with no traffic. He'll get here as soon as he can I'm sure."

"Thank you Mrs. Tanaka. One last question: no one else has a key to your house?"

"Other than Eiji and myself, our son does."

"No maids or gardeners or any other personnel?"

"No officer, my husband prided himself on taking care of everything himself. As well, he refused to pay for any, so no one but family members had access to the house." Officer Mackavitch nodded and wrote down the information.

"I'm going to hand you a list of items the officers found in the house, if you could name anything that is missing, we could monitor the black market for their appearance. It might help us solve this faster." Officer Mackavitch handed over several pieces of paper to Mrs. Tanaka. After a few moments of scanning the paper, Mrs. Tanaka's eyes lit up.

"There's nothing missing."

"Excus-"

"Officer there's not a thing missing on this list, and as far as my memory is concerned, this is everything we own. I'm afraid that the thief wasn't very good."

"I would venture to guess being caught spooked him. If your husband caught the thief in the act, then he might've just run off before anything could be taken. No crook would stay behind where there is a murder scene." Richard interjected.

'Nothing was stolen? Something isn't right here. If the crook were violent enough to try and kill two people, why would he be too scared to stick around and continue stealing? Especially if none of the neighbors came to investigate. This is looking less like a robbery and more-' Officer Mackavitch's voice interrupted Jimmy's thoughts,

"Thank you Mrs. Tanaka, that's all we need. If we have any further questions we will call later in the investigation. My next questions are to-"

"Mom what the hell happened to our front lawn!"

"Hideki! There you are." All eyes turned towards the foyer. A young man in a navy Armani suit with white pin stripes burst through the front door.

"Ah. So you're Tanaka, Hideki?" Richard queried.

"Not now Richard," Officer Harwell slid him a sidelong glance.

"Mr. Tanaka, where were you?" Eyes followed him through the room, as Hideki stalked to a place beside his mother.

"I was at a friend's house past Minami; I got here as fast as I could! If you don't believe me, call her." Hideki sneered at Officer Hartwell. He rummaged through his pockets before pulling out his phone.

"Here's her number, it is number 3 on my speed dial." Hideki tossed the mobile across the room, only to have Richard intercede between it and Officer Hartwell.

"So if I called her right now, she'd say you were with her since-" Richard looked the phone over, and went to press the redial button.

"Hold on now Mr. Moore! If he really did stay with her, then it'll keep. We'll keep the phone, so he can't contact her. If her story matches his then, it'll do so even after a few minutes." Officer Hartwell said.

"Why wait? If-"

"The next person to speak is Ms. Emiko, and she's currently trying to not bleed out on the floor. Do you think we could take her statement before the paramedics have to take her to the hospital." Richard look miffed at having been foiled in his attempt at detective work, and preceded to try and place the cell in his pocket. " Hold on, hand that over to Officer Mackavitch. He'll get that catalogued while I take down Ms. Emiko's statement." Officer Hartwell finished, and took the clipboard from his subordinate. "Alright Ms. Emiko, please state your full name, profession, age, and relation to the deceased as Mrs. Tanaka did."

"My name is Emiko Fujimoto. I am 25 years old and am the morning receptionist for Mr. Tanaka's practice." Officer Hartwell made a non-committal noise about her information, and nodded for Emiko to continue. " As far as I can remember everything was normal today. I got ready for work, arrived on time at-um- 8:00am, and then proceeded to work the first part of my shift till 11:00am. Mr. Tanaka invited me out for lunch-"

"And this is usual? For the two of you to be going to lunch together?" Emiko blinked, seemingly surprised about the question, before answering,

"No. He normally doesn't invite me anywhere. In fact, I would have declined had he not seemed so sick."

"He was sick?"

"Yes. He had a cold I believe, he was coughing, had sniffles, the works, but as usual he came to work anyway. Mr. Tanaka had a great work ethnic. He was not one to let a little something like a cold get him down. I wasn't concerned, until after lunch. He got a fever. It was rather hi-high by my estimation. I um-…" Ms. Fujimoto paused in her recitation of her day, and held her head.

"Ms. Fujimoto?" Officer Hartwell prompted.

"I'm sorry, it's just a headache- where wa-Yes. We headed towards his home in Kita by cab. He was feeling worse the longer the cab ride went, but he kept insisting he was fine. I knew enough about medicine from my years working with him, that a good day's rest at home was needed, but he was so stubborn…I'm sorry. I'm rambling…"

"That's fine. Just take your time, and tell me everything you can remember. What happened after you arrived at his place? And please tell me the approximate time."

"Yes well, we got here around 2:45pm. After I got E- Mr. Tanaka settled, I called into the Office to inform them, that he wouldn't be returning to work today due to illness."

"And what happened after that?"

"Well, I finally got him into bed in his room upstairs then went back down stairs to call Mrs. Tanaka when I heard the alarm deactivate. Mr. Tanaka heard it as well, and came down the stairs to see if it was me. He got to the kitchen, where I was, then we heard someone banging around in the front of the house. Ei- Mr. Tanaka went to investigate…

'That's the second time she's almost called Mr. Tanaka by his first name. When would she have had time to get so close to him? I suppose it could be nerves. She's shaking like a leaf in the wind. Her employer just died, that must be what's causing the informality of it all. Her legs isn't bleeding very much anymore, must not have been serious. Her hair and make-up is flawless. She isn't all that bad looking for someone in her profession. Why is she…' Candace carried on with her perceptive mental ramblings as Emiko continued,

"He told me to stay in the kitchen while he found out what was going on. It all happened so fast after that, there were sounds of a struggle, then a loud crash. Then someone screamed, I think it was the burglar, and …and then-" Emiko started to cry.

"Take your time, I know this must be hard to relate." She sniffed then wiped her face.

"Excuse me, I'll continue. There were shots fired, I'm not sure how many. At first I was frozen, I was so scared…then I heard Eiji scream. Before I could even move, the burglar was running in my direction. He saw me, then pointed the gun…I tried to get away but my leg…After that I can't remember much, I recall laying on the ground in pain, and then the world got dim, I thought for sure I was going to die." Emiko looked down.

"Is that all you can remember?" Officer Hartwell asked. Emiko's head snapped up.

"No. His face, I couldn't see it because he was wearing a mask, but I remember the mask. It was white; it looked like a skull. I think it was to scare anyone if they were still in the house; I know I was frightened stiff."

"Thank you Ms. Fujimoto, do you think you can remember the assailants height and build?"

"Yes. He was about 5'9" or maybe 10, he wasn't too big, not thin either. Um, I'm sorry that's not very specific."

"No that's fine, anything can help us." Officer Hartwell offered. "Anything else you can remember?"

"I'm afraid that's it."

"I have a question, Ms. Fujimoto." Richard interrupted. "Yeah, how did Mr. Tanaka get down stairs, past the burglar, and into the kitchen, if the stairs are in this room?"

"I can answer the detective." Mrs. Tanaka drew the room's attention. "There's another staircase in the back of the house near the master bedroom. It leads right into the kitchen after a short walk in the back hallway. My husband must've used those stairs since they were closer." Richard's scrunched up his face; at having lost what he thought was a hole in Emiko's story.

"Well that solves that mystery." Officer Hartwell turned towards Mrs. Tanaka's son, "Hideki Tanaka, do you think you could give us your statement now?"

"Yeah sure. So I woke up today, same time as usual, then went to school. Had lunch, and met this babe and got her number. Then school got out, and I went over to my friend's house in Minami to study. Then my mom called me, and I came over here as soon as I could. That's it."

"Do you think you could add times to that story?" Officer Mackavitch said, while taking the clipboard from Officer Hartwell.

"And some more detail would be nice as well." Richard added. Hideki rolled his eyes, and then sighed.

" Yeah fine whatever. I got up around 6:30 and left the house around 7:00. I got to school and was on time, so that's 8:00am. I had lunch off campus at like 11:30am, and then school got out at like 3:30pm. I got to Minami around like 4:30pm and-"

"Why'd you head all the way out to Minami when there was company coming for dinner?" Richard interrupted again.

"Well _I _didn't know there was company coming, I just found out like, now that you told me. I always go over to her house to study after school on Wednesday, and you can ask her when you call."

"Fine fine. Let me go over this to make sure we have this right. You woke up and left the house before 8, nothing unusual happened, got to school around 8, went to lunch around 11:30am, and came back to school. School gets out then you get to your friend's house around 4:30. Your mother calls you…" Officer Mackavitch trails off. " Yeah at like 5:30."

"How'd you get from Minami to here in an hour? Richard asked suspicious. Hideki grinned, then pointed a finger outside.

"See the little beauty in the driveway? She's mine; gets a top speed of 200 mph too. That's how I got here." Richard looked up at the ceiling while he did mental math.

' Taking him longer than it should, what's wrong old man, math skill slipping? Or maybe it's the booze that hasn't gotten out of your system?' Jimmy thought cynically. Richard frowned when he realized it was possible. Then shoved his hands into his pockets.

"I guess you weren't kidding when you said 'As fast as I could'."

"Why would I be? Some bastard just killed my father, and you expect me to be pleasure driving?" Hideki barked back at Richard.

"Alright Mr. Tanaka we get it. We've got your statement; we just need to verify your alibi. She's number three you said?" Officer Hartwell took the phone from it's plastic baggie after he slipped an a pair of gloves.

" Yeah that's her, just hit the number three then the call button."

"Hey, I know how to work a cell phone kid." Officer Hartwell started to walk into the other room.

"I'll take this call in the other room. I don't want her to over hear anything unnecessary. Officer Mackavitch, could you continue Mr. Moore next?"

"Certainly sir. Now Mr. Moore do you think you could-"

' Something about his story doesn't add up. The first part is fine, but when he got to the part about lunch…He was shaky on the details, well more than in every other part of his story, and his times don't make-God it's hot in here. You would think after all those police officers stopped running in and out the Air conditioning would have cooled this place down. Actually… If I remember correctly, it was hot when we first arrived. Even though Mrs. Tanaka had just opened the door, it was already steaming in here. With how rich the Tanaka's are I'm sure they run the A/C all day, so why isn't it-'

"Hey I didn't even know the guy! I just learned his name recently when I was doing a missing persons case for the Johanssons. Before that I didn't even know he existed." Richard gruff cry roused Jimmy from he's musings.

"I see and who are the Johanssons?" Anthony Johansson raised his hand, and then pointed to his daughter.

"I'm Mr. Johansson, Officer, and this young lady down here is my daughter Candace."

"I see. Mr. -"

"Where's your wife Anthony?" Richard's impatient words broke into Officer Mackavitch's sentence.

"She's…Victoria is, on business right now. I'm sure she'll be here soon."

"I'm sure. Now Anthony-"

"Officer Mackavitch! Officer Hartwell!" an underling ran into the room carrying something in his hand. "Sir, We found this in an upstairs bedroom, I might also add it's the only room in the house that isn't ransacked." The underling handed over an off-white mask.

"Officer, which room did you find this in?" Officer Mackavitch held out the article of cloth a few inches away from his body.

"I…the room had lot of rock poster in it and-"

"That's my room! If your dumbass touched anything I'll-"

"So you are sure it's your room?"

"Duh! Mine is the only room in the house that isn't this post modern furniture shit my parents like."

"Well then I hope you can explain this." Officer Mackavitch held out the piece of cloth. It was a black mask with a skull printed into the front.

"Sure I can, it's the mask for the Halloween costume I had last year. It glows in the dark, great for spooking folks."

"And why was your room the only one not in disarray?"

"What are you getting at?"

"I'm-" Officer Mackavitch was interrupted by Officer Hartwell.

"You know I just got off the phone with that nice girl you told me to call. Kana is her name right?" Officer Hartwell didn't wait for Hideki to answer. "While she was polite, as soon as I mentioned you, she told me to tell you…what was it again? Ah yes, 'You can tell that cheating bastard that I never want to see him again.' I asked the young lady if she has seen you today, and you know she told me you haven't been over to her place in two weeks, since she caught you with that other girl. Any chance you can tell me where you really were from 3:30pm till 6:30pm?"

"I-" Hideki started.

"Scratch that. Because after I called her, I called the school. Apparently, you didn't come back to school after lunch. So that's what? Since 12:30pm?

"I um…well-"

"You still haven't explained why your room is neat and why you have this mask. About how _tall_ are you Mr. Tanaka?" Officer Mackavitch interceded.

"You know, maybe you could explain it down at the station. You can tell us all about it." Officer Hartwell out his handcuffs.

"Now hold on a second I didn't kill anyone!"

"I'm sure. I hope you have a good lawyer, cause you're going to need it to talk your way out of this kid."

"No wait I didn't kill my father! I didn't! You have to believe me! Mom!" Two of the subordinates hanging around grabbed Hideki from behind and began shoving him out the door. "No! Wait! This is a misunderstanding! I can explain this I swear, just let me-"

"Shut up kid, you have the right to remain silent, if you choose to wave the right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…"

"Hold on, I didn't do it! I didn't."

' Wait a minute, something doesn't make sense.' Jimmy thought while the officers fought to shove Hideki Tanaka out the door.

* * *

><p>Balshumet: Bah! Oh my god this chapter took forever to write. I had to go back and add stuff, and I had to make sure my logic was correct. Anyway, after this I'm taking a little break. Just a few days, before I start writing on this again. Tell me if you see any glaring logic issues, and of course, R &amp; R. Please and thank you!<p> 


	4. In Which Richard Plays Detective

Balshumet: Ok so this story is officially my longest. I'm going to have to get back to my Yu Yu Hakusho one, I'm such a slacker…Anyway, things get interesting. It's back in switching POV's, this time from Richard to Candace. It should be interesting to see the case from a seasoned police officer's eyes and then a child's. Anyway…I'll make sure they both get plenty of action in this one, but poor Jimmy isn't going to be the most popular character with these two, so beware the Jimmy bashing. Anyway, college has started and updating is going to be kinda slow. Here's hoping for once a month. Time for the Disclaimer:

I do not own Cased Closed or any of the assorted characters used from that universe, they belong to Gosho Aoyama . They are used without permission, but I don't suggest suing me, as I am a very poor college student with no financial assets. (I.e. it would cost you more to sue me than you would get from me monetarily.) I hope those corporate big shots get it by now.

I'm sure you know this, and yet:

Thoughts: 'Blah'

Spoken: "Blah"

* * *

><p><strong>In Which Richard and Candace Play Detective<strong>

Richard's POV

'They're shoving that kid out of the door. Looks like this case was more open and shut than I thought…It's just something doesn't sit right with me. Maybe it's the guy's sincerity, or maybe it's because the women in this case stink*, but I don't think that kid had anything to do with Eiji Tanaka's death. I'm more concerned about where that woman Victoria wandered off. She's disappeared soon after we got to that doctor's office, and I haven't seen her since. Damn it, I hate feeling like this. It's like the answer is right on the tip of my tongue, but it's like, like…my never quite full liquor cabinet.' "Hey Anthony, what exactly is Victoria doing?" Anthony's eyes lit up behind his expensive glasses, Gucci or Versace or something.

"Well," Anthony started.

'Anthony's been awfully dodgy about the whole thing; he's shifting his feet. What the hell is he staring at me for? Right! He was answering my question.' "Well tell me when she gets here, I have a few questions for her…" Anthony nods his head. 'Damn I need a drink, I wonder since the case is over, if we are still going to eat something.'

"Hey mister, it's kinda hot in here. Does anyone know if the air conditioning is on?" Conan buzzed overly brightly at one of the officers still hanging around.

'Actually now that I think about it, it's like an oven in here.' "You'd think the Tanaka's would be rich enough to have the A/C running, sheesh. Hey Mrs. Tanaka!" I looked left and right around the room. "Where'd she get off to?"

"She went outside to talk to the officers and Hideki before they took him off to the station." Officer Mackavitch informed me. "By the way Mr. Moore, if you'd like to look over the evidence and be a consult for this case, I don't think Officer Hartwell would mind." Officer Mackavitch passed over a list of evidence, and saluted.

'Brown-noser. What? Does he think I'm going to get him a television deal or something? Well at least I can see the ev-'

"Hey mister Moore, don't you think it's odd that there were so many bullets found around the body?" Conan popped out of nowhere and leaned over my shoulder.

"Yeah actually it _is _weird that the crook missed so much when aiming at Mr. Tanaka and he was standing still, but apparently hit Emiko all while running from one room to the next. Hey-" I slam my fist into that nosey brat's head, "how many times have I told you not to meddle in adult business!" 'That outta teach him, well probably not if all of those other cases are any indication.' I looked through the list of evidence for the bullets and their casings, and sure enough the kid was right. I looked around for Hartwell's lackey; he had disappeared into another room. "Hey! Which one of you did the inventory for this case?" I asked the comportment of officers milling around in the room.

"I did sir." A lankly kid in an overly starched suit walked towards me. He crossed the distance so slowly; he might as well have been walking through tar.

'Lazy, disrespectful...' "Hurry up! This information is of the utmost importance to the case!" I snapped at the kid.

"Yes sir, it's just that Officer Hartwell asked me to, well, keep you out of the way. I'll get in trouble if he knows I gave you that." He held out his hands and tried to look apologetic.

'Well that just proves Mackavitch is a bigger brown-noser than I though.' "Whatever, I just need you to answer this question. Are you absolutely sure about the bullet number and placement?"

"Of course! I watched the forensic team count and measure everything myself."

"Well that's interesting. 'Cause according to this, that intruder has good aim in a hurry."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't worry about it, just tell your Commander to hold off on booking that Tanaka kid." The lanky lackey's eyebrows shot up.

"What for?"

"Just tell him something doesn't add up." I turned to head off towards that hallway Mrs. Tanaka talked about earlier. 'If the victim was shot in the back, and he came from this back hallway…no that doesn't make sense. He came into the room from the kitchen. He would either already be facing the guy or be behind him. In which case, he would have surprised the guy, the robber would have turned around, and shot him. But then, that still would have been with him facing forward…Well maybe he over powered Mr. Tanaka. Yes that's it! He over powered him and…No! No, no, no. It would be a waste of energy to knock him to the ground, and even then he'd be on his ass. Still the bullet would have gone through his chest and not his back. The only way for him to have shot him in the back was if he snuck up on Mr. Tanaka, but how can that be? He had already heard him, so he knew he was there. He would have been looking for the guy, so there's no way he would have been snuck up on…So if he wasn't snuck up on or over powered…think Richard!' I ran my hand through my hair.

My hang over from last night was long gone, but this case was making miss my buzz. I looked around from left to right, up and down the hallway. 'Well it's just like Mrs. Tanaka said; it leads upstairs and out into the kitchen. 'Mr. Tanaka could have traveled from his bedroom, to the kitchen, and then into the living room after that. That still doesn't explain the entry wound on his back. Damn it, I'm missing something.' I stalked from the middle of the hall, and back out into the living room. That suck up Mackavitch, was talking to Hartwell again. The Brats and Rachael were in the kitchen. 'Mrs. Tanaka is still outside. I can hear her yelling at the poor shmuck stuck watching her kid.' Anthony was standing by the foyer window. He kept looking at his watch. 'What's he got to get to? We're all stuck here until…wait. -' "Where'd you say your wife is Anthony?" I asked as I crossed the room to meet him. Anthony's eyes got larger,

"I told you she's out on business. She should be here soon…" Anthony trailed off and began staring out the window again.

'Distracted…what is more important than giving your wife a reliable alibi? Speaking of which, I wonder what Mrs. Tanaka is talking about? Maybe she can shed some light on that Hideki kid's movement.'

Candace's POV

I watched Mr. Moore walk out of the house with his cigarette lighter in hand. 'He has been wandering around this place for half an hour. Pity, from the look on his face, it hasn't been fruitful. Unlike a certain little detective.' I turned from the living room, and headed back into the kitchen. He was crawling along the floor, looking for something. "What are you doing?" I said as I leaned over his back.

"I'm taking a look at the spread pattern of Emiko Fujimoto's blood." He said without looking over his shoulder.

"If I could inquire as to your motivations?"

"Well there should be some smear, from where she moved behind the bar. According to her testimony, she was standing in front of the bar. She had to have been, to be shot in the thigh. She had to have drug herself behind the bar, out of fear, because that's where she ended up, or at least where her blood did." Conan continued to work his way along the island bar. I smirked.

'He hasn't figured it out, or perhaps he has, and he's looking for actual evidence to support his deductions. If he were actually paying attention, the answer and his evidence would already be in front of him' "Little detective?" His shoulders bristled, 'I'm beginning to enjoy that reaction.'

"What" He huffed and mumbled something under his breath.

"I'm heading upstairs, care to join me?"

"I need to get this done first, um…Richard asked me to check." I frowned.

'I don't remember Mr. Moore saying much more to him than to get out of the way.' I snickered, 'followed by a punch to the head. Besides, if he's so concerned with Conan staying out of the way, why would he ask him to do anything for him?" I thought as I climbed the back stairs. They were steep and made of heavy wood. 'These aren't something you could climb soundlessly. The intruder would have heard him coming a mile away. He also would have then tried to investigate, and there's a good chance, if his fever was as high as she stated, that he would have been loud as well, disoriented at the least.'

I passed by the Master bedroom; a cursory glance proved it was in just as bad of disarray as claimed. 'And that's another thing, the son's room was the only one not ransacked, but who would be stupid enough to have left their room clean, when all the others aren't. Not only that, but if the intruder wasn't him, he would have taken time to go through every room, thinking he has killed the Misses and Mr. Tanaka, and stolen some electronics, or _something._ How could nothing be stolen? No this was someone they knew, trying to make it look like a robbery, and the son isn't stupid enough to leave his room untouched. Just as well-' I stopped in front of Hideki's room. Spotless as the police officers stated.

'At least I can trust them to do their jobs. There's something about those calls. My mother called around 12:30pm, and Ms. Emiko called the office at 3:00pm, to say he wasn't coming back in. They left the office at 11:30am, that's a long time to go for lunch. A half an hour to get to lunch, another hour at lunch, then another to get to here, that's about two o' clock. There's an hour unaccounted for, the time in the cab hasn't been confirmed either. What did she do in that hour? Another thing, my mother spoke with him at 12:30pm, but no one else has since then, and with a whole hour, anything could have happened. She's the only one to not only see him, but also confirm he's alive. From where I'm standing, her testimony has more holes than Swiss cheese. The missing hour, the only person linking anyone to the murder, and the not so serious leg wound, that doesn't even include the interesting bullet wounds. I wonder how such a poor shot, managed to hit her while running?' I looked through Hideki's room. 'For a boy, this room is impeccable. His mother must clean it.'

Every book was in place, everything crisp and clean. Even his bed was made, and looked freshly starched. 'It's almost too clean, like someone cleaned it for him, and recently for that matter.' I sniffed the air. 'Smells like wood polish and glass cleaner. Yeah someone did clean recently, and with no maids, it had to be someone in the house.' "Hm, that's another interesting revelation." As I turned to leave the room, and head back down stairs, I noticed a scrap of paper. It was small and yellow, inconspicuous if this room hadn't been so clean. I stooped over to pick it up. 'This is…'

Richard's POV

'Well this has been a wash. I can't get anything out of Hideki, because his mother is playing bodyguard, not to mention threatening to sue anyone who comes within ten feet of the guy. How am I supposed to prove this guy innocent if I can't even speak to him?' I took a long drag off of what was left of my cigarette. The police officers tried to put Hideki inside the car to isolate him. Unsurprisingly, they were unsuccessful as Mrs. Tanaka paused in her phone conversation, presumably with the family lawyer, to bite the head off of the poor officers on guard duty. I smirked, and ground out my cigarette with my heel. 'Well this has been fun, but I need some evidence to support my theory of friendly fire. If only I could get Mrs. Tanaka and Hideki away from those cops.' I lit another cigarette, slunk out from under the pouch awning, and into the muggy night air. The two cops assigned to watch the kid, walked away to go report to the Commander, and I took my chances with the pissed woman protecting her child like a mother bear. As I approached, the two of them had their backs to me. I could hear them whispering frantically back and forth.

"Where-Hideki?"

"Mom I-ca-it's confi-Mother!"

"I'm- help- it's important."

"But-about-other woman?" I snuck closer.

'This is getting juicy, and I'm missing important details.' I thought as I slunk slowly ever closer to the two of them. Mrs. Tanaka whispers became clearer,

"-That's not something I want to discuss right now."

"How can you not?"

"Hideki please, smearing your father's name will do this family no good."

"This family, this family, our family-the only thing you think about is your stupid reputation. No, you think of _father's _reputation. Has it occurred to you that he never gave a shit about this family?"

"Hideki Tanaka, don't you dare talk about your father like that! He worked hard for this fam-"

"He worked for himself Mother! I'm sorry he worked for his own interests, like his wine and his whore!" a loud smack rang through the air. Hideki held his reddened cheek and looked towards his mother with wide eyes. He wasn't looking at her. "You're that Moore fellow right? The famous detective?" His eyes were shining in the moonlight, and he had a loop-sided grin plastered on his face.

'He knows he's not going to jail. Either he's innocent or has one hell of a lawyer.' I reached out and rubbed the back of my head. "Oh don't mind me, just out for a smoke." I smiled at the two of them. Mrs. Tanaka gave me a look that could freeze boiling water. Then she smiled a sickly-sweet smile, which never reached her eyes, and said,

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't eavesdrop onto my conversations Richard." She crossed her warms and slinked forward, like a cat stalking an unwitting mouse. "In fact," Mrs. Tanaka's heels clinked against the driveway, "don't you have some minutia of superfluous evidence to catalogue? Or perhaps you can run this message along, like a good little errand boy? 'Commander Hartwell my son is not guilty. You can find all the circumstantial evidence you like, but the fact remains the only thing you have tying him to the murder is a Halloween mask a perpetrator could have gotten at any store, and the words of a women, half dead and delusional.' Do you need to write that down Richard?" Mrs. Tanaka flashed an insincere smile at me. She dug out a pen and paper, and handed it to me.

"Since you can barely remember the hole in Emiko's thigh, I suppose this will come in handy. Now scoot, I need that delivered before it slips through that Swiss cheese mind of yours." Mrs. Frigid Bitch tossed her hair over her shoulders, then spun around and walked back towards the car where Hideki had a self-indulgent smile on his face. I turned to leave and head back into the house. I had already gotten what I wanted.

'So Mr. Tanaka was having an affair. Interesting, because Mrs. Tanaka claimed they weren't having marital problems. Maybe her idea of 'no problems' equals 'does not know the name of my husband's mistress.' Or maybe she didn't care as long as he was discreet. She sure got hysterical when Hideki mentioned going public, or even discussing her. It wasn't all about not knowing her name, she didn't want to acknowledge her existence, and at least not when someone else could hear. Speaking of hysterics…' A large black limo pulled into the driveway, and Victoria Johansson slid out. 'What? That family can't travel by cab like normal people? Do they have the limo company on retainer? Jesus…Victoria. Now's here's someone interesting. She's been gone for hours; knows, er, knew the victim for years…and her husband. He had no idea where she was earlier. It wasn't that he refused to talk, cause when your wife is under suspicion for a murder case, you sing like a canary. I crossed the lawn, and made it back to the driveway in time to lock step with Victoria as we reached the front door. I reached forward and grabbed the handle. "After you miss." I smiled at her as she passed over the threshold and into the house. Everyone was gathered back into the foyer, and Officer Hartwell's lackeys were shuffling the Tanaka's back into the house. 'Perfect. The more witnesses the better.'

"Alright, we've reviewed the evidence. Mr. Tanaka is coming with us. The rest of you, since we already have your statements, you are free to go."

"Hold on just a second Officer, you didn't get Victoria Johansson's statement. She just walked in, and your officer didn't even notice. Maybe you should run a tighter ship." I stated smugly. Officer Mackavitch began looking through his notes, while Officer Hartwell's eyes scanned the crowd. Mrs. Johansson stepped forward.

"I wasn't here earlier, could someone tell me what this is about?"

"Yes ma'ma. You and the rest of your family and acquaintances are the last people to see Eiji Tanaka alive. You are effectively a witness to a murder case. We just-"

"Wait you mean Eiji's dead?" Victoria shrieked.

'Yup here comes the histrionics.' I thought dryly.

"Yes ma'ma, killed this afternoon in-" Officer Hartwell stated in a calm voice.

"How can that be! I spoke with him this afternoon!"

"Hold on, slow down. You're sure you spoke with him today?"

"Of course I did! I spoke with him on my cell at 12:30pm. It's right here in the phone log." Victoria handed over her phone to Officer Mackavitch, who then verified her claim.

"Well that's all well and good miss?"

"Mrs. Johansson."

"Yes Mrs. Johansson, that's great verification for his time of death, and corroboration for Miss Fujimoto's statement, however, his time of death is estimated at 4:00-4:30pm, well after you spoke with him. Mrs. Johansson if you could please tell Officer Mackavitch your whereabouts since this morning."

"Officer she was with the rest of us. My wife left Beika with the group you interviewed earlier." Anthony interjected.

"Yes sir, we've established that. We only really need her whereabouts from about 4:000pm onward, but we need her complete statement, redundant or not."

"Alright then, I left Beika with a group of friends around 10:30am. The car ride was uneventful, save my conversation with Eiji at 12:30pm. We got into the city around 2:30, went to pick up Atsuko at the Osaka center at 3:00, got to the office, Eiji's, around four. I left the group, and stayed at the office to tend to some personal affairs. I left around 6:00, got a little lost, blame my incompetent limo driver, and arrived here around 7:30. I was then escorted inside. Nothing eventful happened at the office, though there was a call made to the office by the police. I assume you were chasing down leads for this case."

"Yes, we called around 5:45. I'll call back later to verify your whereabouts. It's not absolutely necessary, but are trying to be very thorough."

"That's fine, do you need me to sign anything to affirm that as my official statement?"

" Ye-"

"You might want to hold off on that, unless you want to be charged with perjury*!"

"Moore…" Hartwell looked in my direction. His face looked twisted up,

'This was going to be fun.' I turned and faced Victoria. "Why don't you tell everyone where you really were?"

"I don't know what you mean, I already-"

"Don't play dumb! You weren't at the Tanaka's office. In fact, you were nowhere near it!"

"Richard! I won't have you badgering another witness."

"Hold on Harwell, let me explain myself. Mr. Tanaka was found shot in the back from short range, so close it was actually point-blank. How would someone manage to shoot him in the back from so close?"

"He was surprised." Harwell supplied.

"Wrong! He already knew the intruder was there, it's the reason he came downstairs. He would have been extra cautious when entering the room. He would have been _looking _for the intruder, and if he was coming from the kitchen, the intruder would have only been straight ahead."

"Alright then Moore, how do how do you suppose he was shot in the back?"

"'Friendly' fire." I smirked as Hartwell's eyebrows flew up.

"Explain." He demanded.

"Mr. Tanaka would have only turned his back if he was comfortable with his assailant, someone he knew. Trusting this 'intruder', he would have turned around, maybe after a verbal exchange, and then his assailant would have struck, shooting him in the back."

"Great theory Moore, but how does that put Mrs. Johansson at the scene of the murder, and more importantly, how does it place Hideki Tanaka away from it?"

"Think Hartwell! What kind of criminal implicates himself? No one. If Hideki Tanaka is the murder, and he was trying to make it look like a robbery, he would have started with his room first. How stupid do you think he is, that he left his, and only _his_, room clean? Also since this is his house, he'd have no reason to leave in a hurry. If anyone came knocking, they wouldn't be suspicious of him being here. This house would have been fully ransacked, and frankly Ms. Fujimoto would be dead."

"Alright Moore, so how does Mrs. Johansson miraculously fit into the picture?"

"I have Mrs. Tanaka to thank for this tidbit of info. Mr. Tanaka was having an affair, a long-standing one."

"Mr. Moore, I caution you to say no more than you can prove. The laws for slander are harsh, and it would ruin that stellar reputation you are so proud of, to be caught up in a case for slander of all things." Mrs. Tanaka flashed that boiling water freezing look in my direction.

"You said it yourself Mrs. Tanaka, I'm sure Hideki supports my assertion." Everyone's eyes traveled from me to Hideki Tanaka. He was wearing a wolfish grin.

"Sure I do."

"Hideki!"

"Oh come off it mother, we may not know who exactly his current whore is, but it's not like it's a great shock."

"Right so now that we've established that Mr. Tanaka had a mistress, and that Mrs. Tanaka will lie to protect her husband's reputation. Sorry to say, but that basically makes your testimony as to his character inadmissible." Mrs. Tanaka's glare grew to menacing heights. 'She's beginning to remind me of Eva.' Snapping myself out of the glare induced stupor, I continued. "Mr. Tanaka trusted this intruder, it's obvious it was someone he knew very well, or he wouldn't have turned to leave the room."

"Are you suggesting his mistress was here?"

"Yes Hartwell, and I know who it is."

"This will be interesting, considering my private investigator couldn't find her."

"Well he wasn't the great Richard Moore. Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Tanaka's mistress and killer is none other than Victoria Johansson!"

* * *

><p>* Note: Just in case you don't watch enough detective shows, that means they are suspicious. :D<p>

*Note, I know lying to the police is this case would be obstruction of justice, and so would Richard, having been one. However, perjury sounds so much better in sentence than "obstruction of justice". So I substituted, as they are similar crimes.

Balshumet: Yeah so this chapter took longer than I thought. Needed to reveal enough but not too much. It was weird going from Richard's male pattern and seasoned investigator pattern thoughts, to Candace's female and meddling kid kinda thought. It was also interesting to run three different lines of logic. One for Richard, one for Candace, and another slightly reveled one for Jimmy. Other than that, the wrap-up for this case will be fun. I need to add some more clues, and tie it all with a bow, but you can figure it out right now. All you need is some solid evidence to pin the criminal down, and POOF! Case Closed. As always R&R!


	5. In Which a Case Is Solved

Balshumet: I'm trying to stay on top of my stories more often. So I'm getting the chapters out sooner. Here's the wrap-up to the first case of the story. There will be a little moral for Jimmy as well. Disclaimer time! :

I do not own Cased Closed or any of the assorted characters used from that universe, they belong to Gosho Aoyama . They are used without permission, but I don't suggest suing me, as I am a very poor college student with no financial assets. (I.e. it would cost you more to sue me than you would get from me monetarily.) I'm pretty sure the lawyers of Aoyama don't notice little 'ole me. Unless I was doing something with Prince's music, those guys are everywhere!

I'm sure you know this, and yet:

Thoughts: 'Blah'

Spoken: "Blah"

* * *

><p><strong>In Which a Case is Solved and a Truce Made<strong>

The occupants of the room let out a collective gasp of shock. Then, slowly, Victoria Johansson's face twisted into a mask of rage.

"How dare you!" she sputtered indignantly.

"Easily. All I'm doing is exposing the truth."

"The truth?" Victoria cried at Richard's response, "You wouldn't know the truth if it bit you in your incompetent half-rate detective derriere!"

"Wouldn't I Victoria?" Richard quipped back.

"You wouldn't. It took you a week to find the most well-known and talented oncologist in Japan. Hell, we found him ourselves after a day or two. If our daughter hadn't insisted we pay you for your services, you never would have been even been here." Richard frowned.

"Well that's besides the point. The point is: you've had yet to specify where you were after you left the group."

"I already-" Victoria began.

"After that then, and we haven't even confirmed you were there that long either."

"None of your business! The murder took place around 4:00pm, 4:30 at the latest. I was at the office 'til after 6:00pm, and that's all you need to know."

"Actually Mrs. Johansson," Officer Hartwell interrupted, "I just got off the phone with the nice nurses at the Tanaka's practice. Turns out you left their office nearly immediately after 4, and in his sports car no less." Richard slid his eyes from Officer Hartwell towards Mrs. Johansson.

"How did you have the keys to his sports car?" He asked.

"I don't. I got it from the girls in the office. They said Eiji had taken a cab to lunch today."

"It's true Mr. Moore," Emiko piped up," Mr. Tanaka and I took a cab into the city, that's why we had to take one back to his home."

"Alright, a better question is, why would they let you just take an expensive car out to God knows where?"

"I had somewhere important to be, and didn't have time to wait for a taxi or limousine to arrive."

"Somewhere important, like Eiji Tanaka's murder!"

"I won't stand for these false allegations against my wife any longer. Mr. Moore, if you've got some actual logic, I'd love to hear it," Anthony Johansson stepped between is wife and Richard.

"Certainly, I'll start from the time you left the group at 4:00. You walked into the office and asked for the keys to Mr. Tanaka's sports car. Knowing it was all right to give you the keys, maybe from prior instructions from other visits, they hand over the keys, and you get into the car. You leave soon after 4, let's say 4:05. Junior over there obviously got his love of fast cars from dad, I bet Eiji Tanaka's car has a top speed around Hideki's." Richard eyed Hideki.

"Sure. Hell we used to race, but his is faster." Hideki responded.

"Gotcha. With a car like that you could have made it here in half an hour tops. Arriving here at 4:30 or 4:35, you use your house key and disarm the alarm. That's when Miss Fujimoto hears you in the front of the house and Mr. Tanaka descends the stairs, when he hears the commotion. Walking into the foyer, he sees you in the front of the house. His fear of an intruder abated, he says a few words to you and turns to walk back into the kitchen, most likely to calm Miss Fujimoto. That's when you struck! Taking the gun from out of your enormous sack of a purse, you shot him in the back at point-blank range. After he fell forward, you shot him in the head, and then around his body. Finally, you donned a mask to hide your features from Emiko in the next room, and rush into the kitchen where you shoot her in the thigh and rush up the back stairs. You have no time to spare, because you knew we'd be here any minute. After taking 15 minutes to shoot two people and ransack the house, you drop the incriminating mask in Hideki's room. Thinking you could use him as a fall guy. You then rush back out the front door, which is why you didn't notice Emiko still alive on the floor, and into Eiji Tanaka's sport's car. Where you made the leisurely one-hour drive back. You left here from 4:50-5:00, and we arrived a little after 5 ourselves. Around 6:00pm you returned the sport's car, asked if anyone had called the office, presumably for you so you could establish an alibi, and called a limo that arrived at 6:30pm. That car then arrived back at the Tanaka's at 7:30pm. You honestly expect us to believe a driver for Limousine Company couldn't find the most well-known and expensive neighborhood in Osaka? Why don't you come clean and admit what you've done!" Richard completed his deductions and pointed an accusatory finger at Mr. Johansson.

"That's great conjecture Mr. Moore, but where's your evidence? A murder weapon, fingerprints, clothing fibers, anything at all? Because from where I'm standing, this theory is like a hot air balloon full of holes." Anthony smugly stated.

"We've found the murder weapon, Anthony, but there won't be any fingerprints on them, if those gloves Victoria's wearing is any indication." Anthony Johansson smirked at that statement. "However, that doesn't mean she's off the hook."

"Alright then, what about that house key she was supposed to have?"

"She could have easily tossed that out the window on the drive back to Mr. Tanaka's office. I wouldn't be surprised if she no longer had it on her person."

"Then what Moore! From where I'm standing-"

"Wouldn't matter if you were standing in your wife's jail cell, you'd still think she was innocent."

"The evidence detective?"

"Simple. A strand of hair." Anthony's eyes lit up behind his spectacles.

"What exactly is that supposed to prove?"

"Well in her rush to get that mask over her head, I'm sure a strand or five of that pretty long hair got struck to the inside of the very same mask she was using to incriminate Hideki Tanaka. If not the one the police already have, then there's a second one filled with all the proof I need to place her at the murder scene. That is, unless you both were lying and met the Tanaka's here last year for Halloween." Richard came to his conclusion with a smirk on his face. Anthony and Victoria began to sweat.

"Wait just a second," Victoria started "you don't know where he was any more than where I was, what's to say it wasn't him? He fits your scenario perfectly, and more importantly, he actually has a key and knows the code for the alarm."

"So you say Victoria, but the proof is in the pudding, or the hair this time. We just need to wait until the lab analyzes that mask. Then we'll have our answer." A lab tech came into the room, and handed Officer Hartwell a sheet of paper.

"Speak of the devil, just got the lab report, turns out that mask has Hideki Tanaka's DNA*"

"Then the other mask must be around here somewhere."

"No way Moore, my men have turned this place upside down."

"Then do it again! It has to be here."

"Your deductions fit perfectly for Hideki Tanaka as well."

"Maybe so, but I didn't do it. I wasn't even here and I can prove it." Hideki interjected.

"That's interesting, because you sure were alibi-less a few hours ago."

"Yeah well, I didn't want this getting out, but I was at the family lawyer's"

"Doing what?"

"Trying to see if my father can really cut me out of my inheritance."

"Well this is suddenly convenient."

"What can I say, I was worried."

"About what? What exactly is more important than a solid murder alibi?"

"Well, thinking I was trying to override my father's dying wishes puts me at the top of the suspect list, and until we had the security tape, there was no evidence to actually prove I was there with my lawyer."

"Well good point."

"Alright assuming we can verify his whereabouts via tape, that gives him a perfect alibi."

"So we can book Victoria and close this case?"

"No physical evidence Moore. All we can prove is that she took Mr. Tanaka's sport's car somewhere a little before the time of the murder. Even with no alibi, we can't place her at the scene."

"Then find that mask!"

"We've already looked Moore!"

"Then look again damn it; I know it's here!"

'Richard is barking up the wrong tree' Jimmy thought frustrated. 'He's looking in entirely the wrong direction, and no one else has caught onto why…It's not like I have proof, solid physical evidence, either. At least not yet.' Jimmy walked from the foyer, where Richard was busy arguing with Officer Hartwell over the validity of his deductions, to the kitchen again. Jimmy's eyes traveled along the floor, along the path of a dried blood smear. 'It goes from the window to the far side of the island counter. There's no way the intruder shot Emiko while he ran from the living room to the kitchen. There's just no proof. And with as much blood as she was losing, it would be obvious if she had drug herself back behind the island where we found her. No, she was never on the other side of this counter, and so wasn't in the direct path of the assailant as he fled from one room to another.' Jimmy turned from the entrance to the kitchen proper. As he made his was back along to the foyer, he noticed something along the inside of the open freezer. Sneaking up behind the officer examining the freezer door, he spots some brown-black speckles all along the inside. 'What are those? It almost looks like high velocity blood splatter, but the spread isn't fine enough.' Jimmy leaned closer over the back of the officer. 'Actually it looks like drips now that I get a closer look, why would they-' Richard's angry voice rang out through the kitchen, "Hey Brat! What the hell are you doing?" Jimmy slipped and hit his head on the inside of the freezer door.

"Hey there little man, I didn't see you there. I can't have you messing up evidence." The officer smiled over his shoulder and picked Jimmy up.

"Give him here, I've already given my statement, I'm not staying here any longer. Rachael!" Richard bellowed and began marching toward the foyer again, carrying Jimmy under his arm.

"Now hold on a second Moore, -"

"Not another word, I have no obligation to be here any longer. Johansson," Richard turned towards Anthony, "send me the check in the mail, if you can afford it after the lawyer fees. Now where is Rachael?"

"I'll get her!" Jimmy wriggled out of Richard's grasp.

"Now hold on, there she is."

'Damn.' Jimmy thought irritably.

"Don't take another step! Rachael, let's go." Richard grabbed a miffed Jimmy by the seat of his pants and started towards the front door again.

"Oh, dad wait, maybe you should just calm down and-"

"No way! Now get out this door. I'm calling a cab." Richard turned away from Rachael and started stomping towards the exit.

'I need to think of something quick, or this case is never going to get solved. Too bad I can't just hold him still…or maybe I don't have to.' Jimmy wriggled into a better position to enact his hastily made plan. He lurched suddenly in Richard's grasp throwing him off balance. With a jerk, and a yell, they both came tumbling to the ground with an oomph. They landed into the doorframe, and the whole area around them shook. Jimmy held his head; he had hit it on the wall on the way down. Richard reached down to hit Jimmy on the head, and found a bright pink bag lying on top of his lap.

"Huh? Where did this come from?"

"Looks like it fell from up in that chandelier."

"I wasn't talking to you brat." Richard unzipped the top of the purse and looked inside. "Nothing out of the ordinary. Does anyone recognize this?"

"Yes, that purse is mine."

"Yours Ms. Emiko?"

"Yes, but I have no idea how it got way up there…"

"The murderer probably tossed it somewhere while he was rummaging through the house. Don't worry about it Ms. Emiko."

"Mr. Moore, if you could hand that over as evidence." Officer Hartwell reached towards the purse.

"Sure as soon as I get done examining it."

"Out of the question, that is part of an on going investigation."

"Only because you refuse to see what's straight in front of you!" Officer Hartwell argued back adamantly, but it wasn't the heated argument that had Jimmy's attention.

'What's that smeared along the inside?' He ran a finger along the inner edge of the purse. 'Black, thick, and oily. It almost reminds me of-' A smug smile crept across his face. 'So that's it is it? Now all I need to do is prove she had the time, and the distraction necessary to pull it off.' He walked away from the quarreling pair and towards the stairs. 'The proof I need is in this house somewhere. The only place I haven't been is upstairs. Which reminds me, that walking annoyance hasn't bothered me in a while. She said she was heading upstairs, and that's the last I remember hearing from her.' Jimmy topped the last stair and turned into the first room he saw. He let out a low whistle. "Spotless. Wish Richard's house could stay this clean." Jimmy walked around the edges of the room, before setting in front of the massive computer desk made from oak. 'It's not that this room is clean it's obviously Hideki's, it's the meticulous near obsessive attention to detail.'

"Odd isn't it? The room doesn't match his personality at all."

"There's that, but it's apparent he doesn't take care of this room himself. I've never met a teenage boy that cleaned much of anything. Plus there isn't much emotion or pers- what are you doing here?" Jimmy turned from facing the computer desk, and looked towards the door.

"Looking for you. Mr. Moore is occupied, so much in fact, he didn't even notice me getting something you might be interested in." Candace reached into her pocket and pulled a sliver colored object. She tossed it across the room. Jimmy turned the object over in his hand.

"A key?" Jimmy asked.

"I've figured out that she's lying about the some things in her story." Jimmy looked up from the silvered key in his palm, and towards Candace across the room. "Her time or someone."

"That's not the half of it," Jimmy said as he turned the key in his hands, "there's no way some intruder shot her, at least not like she said."

"Oh come on, that entire statement as a lie."

"She addressed her bosses informally a few times-"

"-and there was gun grease along the inside of the purse."

"That's not the only th- gun grease?" Jimmy paused in their exchange, and rolled his eyes. "I can't believe you didn't notice. It was thick, black, and right on the side of the lining."

"Forgive me Little Detective, but I was a little busy sneaking that key you're holding."

"This key came from the purse? How did you-"

"I'm surprised you didn't notice, and here I thought nothing slipped past your, 'Sherlock-Scan.'" Jimmy was having trouble deciding on whether to glare at her for the insult, or be complimented by the comparison. "You look shocked. I did tell you Mr. Moore was distracted, or did that get past you as well?" He decided on glare, and turned back towards the computer desk. Candace let out a short laugh. "Don't look like that! No one is perfect, so perhaps you shouldn't expect others to be." Jimmy grumbled under his breath, "Minna-san wa paafakuto jaa nai, demo Candace-san wa paafakuto desu."

"Dakara Chisaii Meitantei, watashi to Conan-kun wa paafakuto desu ne?"

"Listen, its harder for me to think with you breathing down my back, so why don't you head downstairs?"

"I would be happy to. I will be sure to help Mr. Moore find you."

"You wanna help so badly? Then why don't you go find me some evidence?" Jimmy looked over his shoulder, and found Candace right behind him. "What are you-?"

"I figured if I was literally 'breathing down your back', you would be so stupefied that you would shut up for a few moments." He turned and faced Candace. He had an inch and a half on her, and was happy to be able to literally stare down his nose at her.

"I'm listening." Candace took as step back, then began.

"As far as I can deduce, this is much closer to the actual timeline of the murder. They arrived here closer to 12:30 or 1:00pm. That's why there's an hour "missing" from her story. The statements from the cabbie and the nurses can confirm that. She probably killed him 1:30 the latest, though I'm not sure why she did it. I'm also not sure how she moved the time of death to sometime after 3pm, when I'm sure he was dead before she made that call. I am also sure the house was in disarray before they arrived, but how much and how much he noticed is up in the air."

"How do you know the house was ransacked beforehand?" Candace reached into her pocket in response. She pulled out a yellow piece of paper, and handed it to Jimmy.

"I found it on the floor in this bedroom. Curiously, it proves she was late, and she made sure to mention she wasn't. From that, I deduced- why are you looking at me like that?" Jimmy's eyes looked glazed and mindless; he was anything but. His mind whirled like a dynamo, as the pieces fell into place. Jimmy turned and picked up the key on the desk with a grin plastered on his face.

"What do you wanna bet," he said while he turned, "that this key opens the front door?" Jimmy's eyes were shinning like a roaring fire. Candace looked up from the key and back towards Jimmy.

Realization dawned on her face as she said, "She broke in early, right after everyone had left, and ransacked the house."

"She arrived late because of it, and lied about it to cover it up."

Jimmy interrupted, "They left the clinic and came here after lunch. Mr. Tanaka opened the door-"

"to find to whole house in disarray. He then-"

"Started looking around the house for an intruder, and left the alarm off."

"While he was distracted-"

"She took the gun down from a purse she had hidden earlier in the light fixture, an-"

"Shot him in the back."

"Then she hid the body in the freezer-"

"Turned off the A/C-"

"Called the office-"

"Set him out to unthaw,"

"And shot herself in the thigh!"

"Conan-"

"Candace-"

"-You're a genius!" they said simultaneously.

"I'm going to go hand these to Mr. Moore, I'm sure once he has them, he'll be able to figure this out." Jimmy ran towards the door, key and time punch card in hand.

"Wait! Just who are you exactly? No other kid my age even comes close to your ability." Jimmy stopped at the doorframe, and turned to look back into the room.

"I thought you of all people would know already. I'm Conan Edogawa, detective," he said with a wink, before disappearing for the stairs. Jimmy walked down the stairs in thought. 'I think I should be asking you that question. "No other kid" huh? That description applies to you more than me. I think I have another mystery on my hands.' Jimmy trekked through the foyer, dodging the packing police crew, and headed into the kitchen. Richard was standing by the window, facing the said of the next house, grumbling to himself. 'Well,' Jimmy thought, 'now is as good a time as any.' He reached down and prepared his stun gun watch, took aim, and fired. The needle sailed through the air and hit its mark. Richard wobbled and fell ceremoniously, into a kitchen table chair sitting behind him. With a little coaxing, Jimmy got Richard into position and ran into the adjoining room to convince everyone to join "the Great Richard Moore" in the kitchen for a true explanation of the crime.

"Alright Mr. Moore, why don't you explain your kooky scheme this time?" Jimmy slipped under the table; it was show time.

A few minor bowtie adjustments, and, "No scheme Hartwell, just the truth."

"The truth eh, Moore? Haven't you been claiming to have 'discovered the truth all night?"

"I had, but all the pieces weren't available to me. That is, if some new pieces of evidence hadn't come to my attention."

"What's that Mr. Moore? Found some new groundbreaking evidence? Well let's here it."

"Not so fast Officer Hartwell, I think it might be best to start from the beginning." Officer Hartwell frowned, and then Jimmy continued. "At 11:30am, Eiji Tanaka left his office right outside of Osaka. He and his secretary traveled into the city, but they didn't stay long. They picked up something quick to eat, the fast food wrappers are in the kitchen trash."

Officer Hartwell interrupted, "How do you know those are from today?"

"Because, the receipt is in the bag. In any case, that's half an hour into the city, then one hour back to this house. Add 15 minutes for that fast food stop and that means they arrived here around 1:15, the latest instead of two. Second, even if we take Ms. Emiko's word for their time of arrival, you really expect us to believe it took an hour to get Mr. Tanaka settled? Even the most ornery patient wouldn't take that long."

"Alright then Mr. Moore, what did she do with that extra time? "

"I'm getting to that. Emiko claims they arrived and the house was in order. She claims that the thief ransacked the house after shooting them both."

"You disagree?"

"I do, Hartwell, in fact, I'm sure there wasn't a thief at all."

"We've been over this Moore-"

"Let me speak! Ms. Fujimoto, do you remember if the A/C was on when you arrived?" Emiko looked surprised.

"Um no. It was hot when we got here."

"Well why didn't you turn it on then? I mean Mr. Tanaka did have a fever, so why keep the house so hot?"

"Wait a second, Mr. Moore, I remember keeping the A/C on when I left. I was the last on out of the house, so I checked before I left. My husband hated the summer because of the heat." Mrs. Tanaka offered.

"Right so, Mr. Tanaka hated heat, and had a fever, but you chose to not turn up the A/C? He must have complained."

"I don't recall whether it was on or not. I fail to see the point of these questions. Even if the A/C was on, I'm sure the burglar let the A/C just run out of the house when the door was opened."

"He wouldn't have left it ajar, that's too suspicious."

"The back door then? Why are you asking me this?" Emiko snipped back.

"Indulge me. So you're sure you arrived at 2pm?"

"Yes."

"So what did you do for an hour before you called the office back?" Emiko sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"I settled Mr. Tanaka in at 2pm, and I honestly watched television. Before I called in, I was on over-time, so I loafed a bit to get some more cash."

"So nothing in the kitchen?"

"No! How much clearer do I need to be?"

"I was just wondering because there's blood drips all over the inside of the freezer."

"What?" Emiko inquired.

"Well I thought you had maybe made some food. Maybe some raw meat."

"I don't know anything about that."

"Well, just thought I'd ask you before I reveal the lab results. The blood in the inside of the freezer door belongs to Mr. Tanaka." A collective gasp went through the room. "Don't believe me? Ask the technician, and look for yourself." Officer Hartwell walked over to the freezer and opened the door. He looked around and turned back towards Richard.

"Alright, where's the proof this isn't cow or chicken blood?"

"Officer Hartwell, I informed Mr. Moore of the identity of that blood." A lab technician spoke up."

"So Ms. Fujimoto, you have no idea how that got there."

"N-" She began.

"Let me rephrase, would you like to admit to murdering Mr. Tanaka now or in your holding cell?"

"I've done no such thing!" Emiko exclaimed.

"Really? Well two things tell me differently. My first clue," Jimmy said while tossing the key into the table, "is this."

"A key? What does this have to-wait are you saying-?"

"Exactly. That's the key to this house."

"Well Moore, you've gotten the proof you needed to send Victoria Johansson to jail."

"Hardly, that key was inside that pink purse we found, the one Ms. Emiko admitted was hers. Correct?"

"Well…yes."

"You know what else I found in the purse? Gun grease. What do you want to bet it matches the type inside the gun?"

"What gun? The officers didn't find one."

"You're right Ms. Fujimoto, but 7mm only use certain types. If that grease matches any of those, it'll prove you had a gun matching the murder weapon in your possession."

"I hear conjecture," Emiko stated fiercely, "do you even know how I could have committed the murder?"

"I do."

"Then get on with it."

"Gladly. After everyone had left at 8:00am, you came into the house with that key. You destroyed the place, then left for work. After you arrived, you acted normally, until 11:30am, when you and Mr. Tanaka went for lunch. After a fast stop at 12:05, the time stamp is on the receipt, you came back to this house. Mr. Tanaka was shocked to find his house in disarray. While he was distracted, you pulled down that purse you had hidden in the foyer chandelier. You took out your gun and shot him in the back. Then you shot him in the head, and then around his fallen body, to make it look like the robber had bad aim."

"If I killed him at 1:15-1:30, why did the coroner say he died at 4pm?"

"I was getting to that. You go and turn off the A/C, and began cleaning up Hideki Tanaka's room. His needed to be spotless, in order to be a scapegoat for your crime. If you check upstairs, you can still smell the cleaning products used. Funny for a house supposedly ransacked by a random criminal." Emiko frowned at that statement. "You then came back downstairs, and place Mr. Tanaka inside the freezer, that's when his blood dripped along the inside of the door."

"Wait, Moore are you saying she used the freezer to stop the decomposition process?"

"That's right Hartwell. After that she might have messed the house up a little more, or maybe she did just loaf off and watch TV. What I do know is she called the office to tell them Mr. Tanaka wasn't coming back. She then took him out of the freezer to unthaw, and left some windows open. With the A/C already off, the condensation from the humidity would mix in with the moistness from Mr. Tanaka unthawing. The coroner wouldn't know the difference, and with him laying face down in the same position, his blood would settle just like if he had stayed face down the whole time. Some time before we arrived, she shot herself in the thigh with the same gun she killed Eiji Tanaka with."

"Well where did she put the gun then? She can't stand now, after first aid, so where did she put the gun?"

"I'm not sure, I have a hunch, but it's irrelevant."

Emiko retaliated, "I fail to see how not having the murder weapon is irrelevant! You don't have any hard evidence. I don't have any gun powder on my clothes."

"You had plenty of time to wash them and your hands."

"I don't have the gun next to me, so how did I get rid of it? At this point, you can't prove it was me. I don't have a motive, and you don't have any concrete evidence. You can't even prove I was in this house before 1:00 this afternoon."

"You know, a few minutes ago I would have believed you, but that slip of paper on the table says otherwise. Take a look Officer Hartwell, that proves she was late for work." Officer Hartwell picked up the slip of yellowish paper on the table and turned it over. His eyebrows flew up into his hairline.

"Ms. Fujimoto, this is a time punch card. It has your name on it, and says you arrived at work at 9:30am."

"I um…" Emiko stuttered out.

"Didn't you make a point to tell us you weren't late for work today? Since you are the only assistant for the mornings, the only other person who can confirm your time of arrival is dead. So why were you late for work today? Why you're at it, you might want to explain why there's gun grease in your purse."

"No need detective," the room grew silent in anticipation. "I confess." "Emiko, you can't honestly mean-"

"I killed him Atsuko. That man, he was a menace to society, he deserved to die."

"Emiko how can you say that!"

"How can you defend him, Atsuko? You know damn well he was cheating on you, he has been for years."

"Yes, but he started so long ago, and Hideki was so young, I stayed for him. After high school, I was going to demand that he break it off, or leave him." Emiko smiled, and turned towards Atsuko.

"He'd never let you do that. You'd leave with his money, and he'd never have that."

"That's not-"

"It is true. How blind can you be? I know everything about this man, because I have been his mistress for years." Emiko stopped and made her way carefully to her feet. "Do you know why I killed him? Because he wouldn't marry me. He hated you. He told me so, and the way he spoke of you, I know he meant it. But he wouldn't leave you. At first I thought it was because of your child, but as time went on…I noticed more and more, the only thing he loved was his money."

"You're just jealous, that's why-"

"Don't you understand! He was trying to deny his own child the rights to his inheritance. He refused to divorce a woman he couldn't care less about because he didn't have a damn prenuptial! He…he paid me less than the other receptionists for years, because he knew he could get away with it. He didn't love either of us; he didn't love anyone. The only thing that monster cared about was money… I was his plaything and you were a means to an end." Emiko smiled through her hysteric tears, " in my opinion, we should bury the bastard with his money, it's the only thing he's ever loved…" Officer Hartwell handcuffed Emiko, and walked her carefully towards the door. While everyone's attention was turned towards the front door, Jimmy climbed from under the table.

"Mr. Moore," Victoria started "I'd like a full apology for trying to claim I was the murderer earlier today." Richard stretched his arms as the aesthetic wore off.

"Wha' that?" He said while brushing sleep from his eyes.

"I said apologize for saying I was a murder!"

"What? You know you killed Eiji Tanaka, just admit to it already."

"Don't be silly dad, you already proved it was Emiko Fujimoto, she just confessed." Rachael intervened before Richard could dig himself any deeper.

"Ah, that's right…well don't blame me for suspecting you, you were awfully suspicious."

"That's not an apology!" Victoria screeched.

"Well-" Richard started.

"Don't bother! I don't want to hear another word come out of your mouth. If you so much as say I was suspected to anyone, I'll sue you to the poor house."

"Um, that is-"

Victoria bellowed, "Shut up! Candace!" When her daughter didn't appear as prompted, she stomped off into the adjoining room from the kitchen after her.

"What's her problem?" Richard asked as he stood from the table.

"Come on Rachael, let's find the brat and get out of here. This day has been nothing but a wash." The two of them passed over a brooding Jimmy on their way to the foyer, too distracted by Victoria's hysterical calls for her daughter.

'He kept her hanging on for years, just stringing her along. It makes me wonder sometimes. I don't know how long I'm going to be stuck like this, maybe I should just let her go?'

"My, what has you so engrossed?" Jimmy nearly jumped two feet in shock.

"Where did you come from? Can you just materialize out of nothing?"

Candace smiled, "You know I was going to ask you the same question. You disappeared for a while there, and here I thought you'd want to be around for the big reveal. You like detective work so much…"

"Er, that is I was in the back hall. It's much more fun to watch from a distance, that way, you can see everyone's reactions." Candace smile widened, but she didn't say anything else.

'I swear this girl, she's keeping me on my toes.'

'I swear this boy, more full of surprises and contradictions than I thought. I wonder-' "Is the hallway big enough for two people to stand in without noticing each other?" Candace queried to no one in particular. She looked over her shoulder at Jimmy, and then ran to meet her mother outside. Jimmy ran to catch up to her.

"Wait a second, you can't tell anyone I wasn't there with you…" Jimmy hurriedly spoke as he caught up to her.

"I won't." Candace said quietly.

"That's right you…you won't?"

"No I will not. Clearer now?" She stopped a few feet from the curb and looked Jimmy in the eye. Richard was busy trying to apologize properly in the background, while Mrs. Johansson ignored him, and Mr. Johansson phoned for another limousine.

"I don't understand. Don't you want to get back at me for getting you into trouble? You could easily get me into trouble."

"I could, but I'm not going to."

"Why not?"

"I think it's because I'd like to propose an irenic solution to our," Candace paused looking for a word, "formerly hostile acquaintanceship. What do you say? Truce?" Candace held out her hand. Jimmy looked at it suspiciously. The last time he had taken it, he'd ended up on the ground with a ball bouncing off his head. Hesitantly, he reached out and shook it.

"Truce." He said with finality. Candace smiled and turned to look back down the road. The moon was out, and this far from the city, you could see the stars as well. She smiled up at the sky.

"Hm, you know the only time we've gotten along is when we're staying up at the sky?"

"I hadn't noticed…"

"Well, here's hoping there's peace more often than when we are star gazing." The rest of the evening passed uneventfully, though uncomfortably, with Richard trying to apologize to Mrs. Johansson, and Victoria being as obstinate as possible about it. The two of them provided the cabin's chatter, while the rest of the riders sat quietly on the ride back home. Jimmy, and the Moore's were dropped off first, and the limousine pulled away. Candace said not a word on the way home; she was too lost in her own thoughts. Jimmy was no better though, and even if she had tried speaking to him, he was a mile away and halfway through time. The two settled for bed in different houses, their thoughts more mirrored than their surroundings.

'And so I wonder, how long is Rachael willing to wait?'

'And so I wonder, how long till I crack this puzzle?'

* * *

><p>* Yeah DNA test take longer than that to get back, but…crime time lines…<p>

Japanese translations: These are approximate as there are no "you" second person forms or "no one" in Japanese. These are what these are supposed to be in English before translation.

"No one except you "Perfect" Prima Donna."

2. "Well of course Little Detective, only as perfect as you."

Balshumet: Cheese and Crackers! This chapter is long. I mean I knew it was going to be, but wow did it just expand on me. Needed more words than I thought to explain everything. Also, our favorite detective and Candace are at an uneasy truce, and now their guardians are fighting, reversals are nice. I'll be able to get the next chapter out soonish. After all of this came out of me, my fingers are a little tired. So, be sure to R&R.


	6. Of Friends and Enemies

Balshumet: Well this is the last chapter I have written. I hope you guys have enjoyed the sudden burst onto the scene. If I'm lucky, I won't have another story taking up my attention, so I can get back to this one soon. Cya at the bottom!

Disclaimer time! :

I do not own Cased Closed or any of the assorted characters used from that universe, they belong to Gosho Aoyama . They are used without permission, but I don't suggest suing me, as I am a very poor college student with no financial assets. (I.e. it would cost you more to sue me than you would get from me monetarily.) I'm pretty sure the lawyers of Aoyama don't notice little 'ole me. Unless I was doing something with Prince's music, those guys are everywhere!

I'm sure you know this, and yet:

Thoughts: 'Blah'

Spoken: "Blah"

* * *

><p><strong>Of Friends and Enemies<strong>

Jimmy's POV:

July 1, 1995

I awoke to the sound of pounding on my door. Blearily, I peered at the clock next to my bed. 9:00Am. 'Damn. Too early. I refuse to get out of bed till at least 10:30 today.' The pounding continued. 'Too bad that person pounding can't read minds' I pieced together mentally. I crawl out of bed, dragging my feet along the floor; I can hear a voice to go with that pounding now.

"Conan! Get up your friends are here. They said you promised to go to the park." Rachael's cheery voice blasted through the thin door. I suppressed a grimace, as I opened the door.

"Eh. Who's here?" I croaked as I continued towards the living room.

"Mitch, George, and Amy of course. Go and get dressed." She followed after me as I rounded the corner towards the living room.

"Hey Conan, how come you're not ready? You said you'd be ready to go play today at 9:00." Amy looked at me, eyes wide and wholly too awake.

"I don't remember-"

"We agreed to meet up earlier this week. Cause you couldn't make the new Masked Yaibaman movie this Wednesday."

"That's not fair. How was I supposed to know someone would die?"

"No way Conan! You're not wiggling out of this one." Mitch crossed his arms.

"Go on-"

"-go get dressed" Amy and George urged at me. I sighed and slid my feet across the floor.

'There goes my lazy day in bed.' A half an hour later, I found myself not lazing in bed, but being pestered to play tag. The sun glared down at me, hot, happy, and bright. Butterflies fluttered, birds sang, the day was entirely too damn lively. It didn't help that every other kid was smiling, laughing, and running around like mad. 'Yeah I'm doing a great job today pretending to be a 1st grader. It's summer! I should try to care more.' I slid my hands from my pockets and decided to make the best of today. "So what do you guys want to do at the park?" I asked.

"Hm, well I wanted to play baseball. How does that sound to everyone else?" Mitch responded. Amy and George cheered and pulled at baseball equipment from nowhere.

'I swear these kids have access to hammerspace. Ah well, at least we always have whatever we need for games.' We rounded another corner and walked into the main park for Beika city. It was packed. Every kid in the city must have been there, because it felt 10 degrees hotter. More importantly, there didn't seem to be enough space for a baseball game. "Hey guys maybe we should go to another park, there doesn't seem- guys?" I looked around me; they were nowhere to be found. 'Looks like they already ran into the park without me. Just my luck, I get to wander around after them. Well, I should probably head towards the south section of the park. That's the best place for a game.' I squeezed through the crowd of people just leaving the park and rushed inside. Half an hour later, I found myself on the other entrance to the park. The gang had formed a pretty large baseball group and was deciding on team captains. I was about to walk over to meet them, when something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. There was a group of people standing around in a circle. 'In my experience there are only two kinds of things that garner that kind of attention and neither of them belong here.' I turned away from the kids picking teams and walked back towards the group encircling something back towards the other side of the park. A loud cheer went up from the middle of the crowd, and I could make out the sound of music being played. I raised an eyebrow and slipped between the larger bodies in the crowd and headed for the direct center.

More people packed behind me, eager to see what had all this attention. I grumbled and pressed ahead, finally getting to the front of the mob, only to nearly lose my nose to a swift kick. I leaned back, and peered forward into the center again. 'I get it now.' I thought. People jumped into and out of the center dancing to the beat of whatever song was blasting from the boom box. The teens cheered on their friends with hopelessly poor dance skills, and the people who could actually dance on beat even louder. I sighed and turned to try and squeeze my way back out of the mob of people when a shocked gasp went through the crowd. I twisted back around, and stared dazed at what I found next. The last person on earth I wanted to see today was twirling in between the other dancers in the middle of the dance circle. A left, then a right, a pirouette around the clumsy guy in baggy shorts; she danced literally circles around the rest of the kids in the center. One song ended, then another began, and she effortlessly changed step to match the new beat. The other less able dancers cleared the floor to get a better a look. Suddenly finding more room to work with, she began to really work the floor. She spun twice on one leg and then flipped backwards from one edge of the circle to the other. The song picked up pace, and her movements grew shorter and quicker to keep up. All of a sudden she stopped, and I realized the music had as well. The rest of the impromptu audience hadn't noticed it either until she had stopped. They let out a rancorous cheer, and somewhere between their screams and my own need to reestablish some personal space, I had lost track of her in the throng of moving teens. I rushed out back towards where everyone else had been playing baseball. 'No luck.' I shrugged, and looked back to the dance circle. "If that circle wasn't still there, I would swear I was dreaming."

"Dreaming about what?" A voice materialized to my left, and I jumped away from it. Someone all too familiar giggled. "What's the matter? You looked awfully surprised to see me." I glared at her and said,

"So you can reappear and disappear out of nowhere. What are you doing here Candace?"

"Enjoying the park. Well I would be if it weren't so crowded. How about you Lit-"

"Do NOT call me that. Not today, I just want to relax." She intoned something and responded,

"I suppose even the best detectives get a day off. Alright then, _Conan,_ are you relaxed?" She over-pronounced my name and smiled at me.

'Don't let her get under your skin; you are trying to have a good day today.' "Much more so before you got here." She laughed, and I hated the way it sounded.

"You seemed pretty relaxed watching me dance, or perhaps…dazzled is a better word for it?"

"I was neither."

"Then maybe dazed it better?" I frowned,

'I'm not being drawn into another contest of snipping comebacks with her today.' "Befuddled. I didn't know someone so awkward could manage to not fall over themselves long enough to call themselves dancing." She twitched her nose, and stalked off towards the circle again.

"Well if you're thinking it's some kind of fluke, I'd be happy to demonstrate otherwise."

"No thanks, I've seen enough feeble attempts at rhythm today." She groaned and turned back around.

"Maybe you'd like to try then?" I didn't miss the implication that my dancing skills were as bad as I'd claimed hers were. I also didn't rise to the challenge. I was going to have fun today, and that involved not fighting with her.

"Can't say I can. I have a baseball game to get to."

"Didn't peg you for a baseball person."

"I'm not." I threw back without thinking.

"Ah," she took the opening, "then what kind of person are you." I stopped and tossed,

"soccer," over my shoulder, and continued forward.

"I was just wondering, as there doesn't seem to be either in that direction." I was about to say otherwise, when I noticed the empty field in front of me.

'Looks like everyone ran off somewhere else for the game.'

"Well since you don't seem to be that busy, you wouldn't mind showing me how to dance. Since 'you've seen enough feeble attempts', you should be able to teach me a thing or two." I suddenly found myself without an out, and wishing I had taken my mother up on those dance lessons all those years ago. I swallowed loudly and stared her down. "Or, you could just as well apologize. I mean everyone misspeaks. I'm sure you meant _other_ people and not me." She quirked an eyebrow as she finished her sentence.

'Damn it. How did she do that?' Well I can think of a few ways out.' "I don't misspeak." She frowned at me, and I continued. "Since you want to be showed up that badly, I'll be happy to oblige." I marched towards the dance circle forcing her to step out of my way. The group had grown even larger than when I had left, and I was forced to squeeze my way through the writhing bodies to get back to the center. I glanced behind me. There was a mass of people heading out towards the edge of the circle, but as luck would have it, she was still in sight. The crowd shifted to the right, one of those unconscious undulations masses of creatures make, and I made my move. I slid to the left back towards the outside of the circle. A few seconds of determined squeezing later, I found myself staring at the outside ring of the crowd. Relief flooded through my system, and I let out a sigh as I wormed my way past the last of the teens. My eyes wandered the area around me, no sign of the little Prima Donna Anywhere. 'Looks like I lucked out.'

"Where are you going?" her question grated against my ears.

"Uh…I was looking for you. I lost sight of you in the crowd." I half-lied. She hummed and put a hand on her hip and held the other out,

"Well why don't we try this again? Maybe if we are attached this time, you'll be too ashamed to attempt to run." I winced and gripped her hand.

'I don't know why I even bothered.' I shoved back my dread as we reached the center of the circle. She turned and said,

"You know you could just apologize and get it over with."

'I wasn't about to apologize to her…even if I was wrong.' I shrugged and slapped on a cocky smirk, "why would I miss the opportunity to help the less fortunate? Seems like you aren't the only one in need of the lesson." I thumbed to a kid currently flailing his way through a song. She hummed along as a new song started to play, and gestured towards the center. It was now or never. I steeped out into the cleared out middle, and instantly felt the crowd's attention focus on me. 'Guess she set the bar for kids our age.' I took a few seconds to absorb the beat and began swaying. Left, right, and then an idea hit me. I saw an American music video last night, and the moves weren't half bad. 'It's as good an idea as any.' I tried out a few. A spin, a little fancy back and forth with my legs, and the crowd ate it up. I smirked as I cart wheeled and landed right in front of her. I back flipped away, and caught her eye again. She yawned and quirked an eyebrow. 'Bored are you?' the song set up for the finale, and so did I. I moved back to the center with a few more moves, and stopped at a pause in the song to center myself. I jumped and twisted sideways so I could land on my hands. And then-

Candace's POV:

I let out another rancorous laugh. I just couldn't seem to stop. He glared up at me again. "Oh stop looking like that. Your eyes will shoot right out of your head if you stare any harder." He glared harder, and I started laughing again.

"Stop laughing. It's not funny." His tone was clipped and brisk. I managed to subdue my laughter, and the air around us, once again, filled with silence. He turned his back to me, and crossed his arms. I sighed and watched the clouds.

'Today had started out well enough. I managed to sneak out of my parents', or out from under my parent's, vigilante gaze. A warm day at the park, made better by the opportunity to dance. Then I meet mister rain cloud, and my day takes a turn for the worse.' The waiter from the small diner we had stopped in finally came over,

"Hey there! Can I get you kids anything?"

"Yes. Just some ice water and some menus please." He glared over his shoulder at me, before turning back towards the window. 'I swear he'll be cross eyed if he doesn't stop.' The waiter walked over to another table.

"You know you didn't have to do that." he said.

"Do what?" I asked back. The space grew silent again, and I was just about to speak up when the waiter returned with the water and menus.

"Now you kids tell me when you are ready to order." he intoned before moving onto another table with a family. I stared into the perspiring glasses, before fishing out my handkerchief. I looked over at him again. He was still turned away from me, though now he was rubbing a spot on his head. I placed the ice in our glasses inside the cloth, and closed the top with a scrunchie.

"Here." I held out the ice pack to him with a smile. His wary eyes lit up from behind his glasses, crooked from the fall, and he stared at the homemade ice pack as it dripped on the table. A few terse second passed, and I thought he wouldn't accept, before he reached over grabbed it. He grunted out a meager thanks. "You are welcome. Now about me not having to do something?"

"You kids ready to order?" The waiter interrupted and looked ready to scribble something down on his pad.

"Just-"

"You guys have any ice cream?" The waiter's eyes jumped from me to Conan.

"Sure thing kid. We have lots of flavors too, er well we usually do. It's so hot we've sold out of everything but-" the waiter paused to look at a note on the pad, "coffee and rocky road." The waiter shrugged and continued, "Looks like the other kids got to everything else first. You could have either of those, but I'd suggest-"

"Coffee please."

"You sure kid?" The waiter looked surprised at his choice, but scribbled it down when he nodded. "How about you hun?"

"I'll have what he's having; I am not the fondest of marshmallows in my ice-cream."

"Well…ok then. Two coffee ice creams."

"Make that on a cone; I don't want to sit here." The waiter laughed,

"Have some serious business to attend to huh? Late for your second date stud?" Conan passed him a heated look, and the bubbly waiter disappeared quickly.

"That was not nice."

"What do you care of nice?"

"Says the boy holding my favor to his head at this very moment." He groaned and finally turned towards me again.

"If it's that important, you can take it back" He held out the half melted ice pack.

"No. I don't want it back."

"Well want do you want from me?" he hissed out. I felt my eyes widen.

"Nothing." He rolled his eyes, and placed the ice pack back on his head.

"Then why do I have bent glasses and a sore head?"

"Because you are stubborn. But that's alright too."

"Really? It's not alright with me."

"So why are you stubborn if it is not alright?"

"You know that's not what I'm talking about." He passed another nasty look across the table, as the waiter returned with our ice-cream cones.

"That'll be 700 yen in total you two." I reached into my pocket, and handed over a few coins.

'I'll never get over the differences in currency here. Paying for a few dollar's worth of something in coins.' I took a lick off my ice cream, and turned back to him. "Ok. So what do you want from me? To apologize because you refused and so made a fool of yourself? That's not my fault."

"No, but being so damn antagonistic is!" I blinked at his use of profanity.

"I've done-"

"Oh yes you have. Ever since we met you've been an obnoxious spoiled pretentious pain. What? Is it your purpose in life to make me miserable, or do you have nothing better to do? Well pick a different target, because I'm done playing." He got up from the table and began towards the door.

"I'm sorry."

"What?" He stopped walking and faced the table again.

"I said I am sorry. I…I only wanted to tease you a little. I didn't mean to make you mad, and I certainly didn't want you hurt." I stared up at him from my seat behind the table. He blinked at me, looking surprised. A few seconds passed, before he turned and stalked back to the entrance. I sighed and looked back out the window. 'At least I-'

"Hey!" his voice broke up my thoughts. "Are you coming? I didn't think you wanted to sit here all day." He held the door open with his ice cream free hand. Surprise filtered through me. Several teasing rejoinders passed through my mind, I clamped down on them. He was trying, and so I'd take what I could get.

"Yeah of course." I licked a precarious drip of ice cream from the base of the cone and made for the door. Back outside in the damp heat, the ice cream was melting with such speed; I found my mouth too preoccupied to speak. It was just my luck; I didn't have to. The Little Detective was prattling on enough for the both of us. 'I wonder what has gotten into him.'

"You're a pain, but at least you're a self aware one. Not like your mom. She's a piece of work. Uh-" He stopped and looked over at me, tentative. I shrugged and set back to work on my cone. "I mean, Richard is a piece of work too, but she really takes the cake. Didn't think I'd meet someone worse than him at social niceties. Speaking of which, you sound different." He paused as we stopped at a crosswalk. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he continued unprompted. "You talk different. When we met, you were all proper Japanese and prim. Now," his eye's darted as he searched for the word, "you're, you sound like a normal kid. Uh well anyway, I've been talking for awhile, now all of a sudden you have nothing to say?" he questioned.

"Your ice cream is melting." I responded blandly. His face lit up, when he finally recognized the sticky, wet mess dripping down his arm.

"Oh." I didn't have to explain, he got it.

'And that's what I like about you. I don't have to explain everything.' I thought as I finished off my cone. He suddenly found his mouth too busy to blabber off, what with him trying to save what was left of his ice cream, so I did the talking. "My mother," I started, "she is something. I'm not sure if I know the word for it. She's a good woman, but mollycoddles too much. She just wants the best for me."

"Yeah 'cause balconies are dangerous" He groaned sardonically.

"It wasn't the balcony, Conan." He looked like he wanted to respond, but instead dove back into his quickly diminishing ice cream cone. "It's not much of your business why, but she has a good reason to worry about me so much. She wants me here as long as possible, just like any good parent. Which reminds me, here we are talking about my parents, and not yours again." He opened his mouth, "no you don't have to answer anything. I'm just curious." He settled back down and slurped up the last of his ice cream.

"Alright. What do you want to know?"

"You said your parents were in foreign banking." It really wasn't a question. He caught onto that immediately.

"Yes I did. I also said I'm not sure what they do for them."

"I remember. I was just wondering how your parents in banking, met Mr. Moore, the detective."

"They didn't. Jimmy's parents did."

"Ah-"

"I'm not done yet." He stuck his hands in his pockets as we waited to cross another street. My thoughts wandered before he continued,

'Where are we?'

"My parent, my mother, is related to Jimmy's dad. I think the Moore's and the Kudo's are good friends from awhile back. I know their kids are great friends. So that's why I'm staying with them."

"If your parents are so busy-"

"Sick."

"What?"

"My parents are in the hospital. They were in a bad car crash."

"I see. I hope they get better soon." I paused and faced him as the light changed. We crossed the street, "so why aren't you staying with your Kudo relatives?"

"They aren't in the country." We rounded another corner, and things started to look more familiar.

"None of them? I thought they had a son…"

"They do, but he isn't around either. I think I heard Rachael talking to him, something about a big case."

"Oh, so they sent you to stay with the Moore's'?" He shrugged, and continued trudging forward. Stillness settled over us for what seemed like the 30th time today. 'At the very least, this one isn't awkward, angry, or aggravated into existence.'

"I'm sorry." It was soft, and so sudden; I thought I had imagined it. He stopped walking.

"Co-"

"I'm not done yet." he whispered. He turned to face me and said, "I owe you an apology. I shouldn't have insulted you, and I'm sorry." I stared at him wide eyed; I thought he had moved on already. "You called for a truce the last time we met, and I haven't honored that. Could we try again?" He held out his hand. I stepped forward and grasped his hand.

"We could, but I'd much rather a friend than a cease fire." His eyebrows shot above his glasses.

"Let's take this one step at a time. I'm not sure if we are going to avoid yelling at each other before the day ends."

"Well you don't get to Jupiter by aiming for the moon."

"Only if they aren't in alignment."

"Well I'm not going to wait for a one in a million shot; How about you?"

"Only one in a million if you don't know what you are doing." I was about to quip back, when a loud honk came from behind us.

'We stopped in the middle of the street?' He pulled on my hand, and yanked me along with him back onto the sidewalk. I tripped over the edge of the curb, and stumbled back into safety. Thankfully, he hadn't let go of my hand yet; Unfortunately, I nearly bowled him over when I tripped over the curb. The car sped down the narrow street, kicking up a swirl of dust in its wake. I turned my head from where the car had disappeared, and faced forward. 'Huh. I forgot he's taller than me.' I mused when my line of sight caught his chin. I stepped back. 'Pretty. Shame he wears glasses, they hide his blue eyes.' He frowned. His lips started moving, and then I realized he was speaking to me. "Eh?"

"I asked if you were alright." I blinked up at him, and moved away from the edge of the sidewalk. His hands didn't budge from off my forearms.

"I-Conan?"

"Yes?"

"Your hands are covered with melted ice cream." He faltered a little, before snapping his hands back like they were near open flames.

"Yeah, forgot about that…" He trailed off and began walking. I hummed in response, and set off after him. After a few more minutes of comfortable silence, we walked into a nice neighborhood. Tall black gates barred entry into the front yards of the property, which honestly were more like estates. Some of the houses were distinctly western in design, and I finally recognized where we had been walking to all this time. He suddenly stopped in front of a gate. I couldn't help the feeling of astonishment that came over me.

"How did you-?"

"If I've been somewhere once, I can get back to it." The looked at him in amazement, and he smugly added, "I've got a great memory, so I think I'll remember your jaw being on the floor for awhile yet." I managed to school my features back into a semi-neutral position, as he rung the doorbell. A cultured voice on the other end answered,

"Yes?"

"George hey it's me. Could you let me in?" I replied. The gates creaked gently, and slid open.

"You call your butler by his first name?"

"Well I feel weird calling him Mr. Turnbuckle when he asked me not to." Conan snickered, and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, and that's why I don't call him Mr. Turnbuckle." We made a silent trip across the lawn to the door. George was already holding the door open for our arrival.

"Ms. Candace, your mother and father have been looking for you all morning. Where did you go?"

"Just a small excursion."

"Ms.-"

"Stop worrying so much."

"Forgive my imprudence young mistress. Who is your young associate?" George stopped a few feet from the parlor, and turned towards a previously ignore Conan.

"Conan Edogawa." He answered, and peered around George into the foyer. I followed his line of sight, and found my mother and father speaking with someone I never expected.

Jimmy's POV:

I watched as Candace talked to her butler, waving away his concerns and questions with an air of boredom. I couldn't help but take in the details that had been ignored by me the first time in favor of analyzing her behavior. An end table here, a leather couch there, more expensive oil paintings from exclusive artists from America and Britain. The foyer was styled in post-modern American style; there wasn't a hint of Japan anywhere. 'Interesting. You would think her father would insist on my Japanese décor in their house, especially considering the location of this residence.' I frowned when I realized the butler had asked my name, instead of just getting Candace to answer for me. "Conan Edogawa." I answered curtly, and peered around him. There was quite a commotion going on in the room behind him. To my surprise, Richard was standing in the foyer behind butler George, arguing adamantly about…money? 'Of course what else? He hasn't been paid yet.' I thought wryly. Candace slipped past George, and slunk into the room, quiet as a cat stalking a mouse. 'I wonder do all of those dance lessons help her do that. At the very least, she isn't using her magical sneaking abilities on me this time.' She paused halfway into the room, and tossed a smile over her shoulder.

I knitted my brows when she motioned for me to come into the room with her, but crept in after her. She held a finger to her lips, and silently pointed behind the quarrelling adults. I followed her hand to a set of stairs leading to the second floor. She didn't honestly think we were going to get to those? 'It's a large house, there must be another set. No of course there is, but those don't allow for spying.' I deduced. She raised an eyebrow at me and quirked her lips expectantly. 'What's wrong? Don't think you can do it?' Her look asked me. I felt my lips tighten into a line and my eyes narrow. 'She's getting too good at knowing when I can't resist a challenge.' I took her hand and began leading us around the group to answer her challenge. We moved a few steps before she stopped me. I suppressed the urge to growl at her, and turned back around to face her. She was mouthing something to George, and gave him a wink. Before I could do anything about it, she jumped into the lead, and opted to do the dragging. 'Well at least she's back to her grating bravado.' The grip on my hand strengthened as we came up behind a couch blocking us from view. Her green eyes sparkled like mad, and she peered over the top of the furniture piece. I tried to pull her back down into cover, only to find her stony grip impossible to move. 'Since when is she strong enough to…' I started before I caught some of what the adults were fussing about.

"I am not paying you a solitary cent! You didn't even find Eiji, _we_ did. If only my daughter hadn't insisted that we make it up to you regardless for apparently taking the time of one of Japan's best detectives, I would not even be in this position!"

"Some best detective you are, you can't even find a missing person, who has his name in the Japanese phone book."

"I don't know why we even came to you. You were a waste of time and energy, and I am most certainly not going to waste more money than I fronted to you already."

"Lady! You owe me! I solved your friend's murder, the murder of your friend's husband and cleared their child. You at the very least owe me for that. _And _I still found him. Maybe not as fast as you, but what would you have done without me? Let Hideki Tanaka get booked for a crime he didn't commit? Yeah now that would be a tragedy, but you still aren't grateful? What kind of stingy-"

"STINGY! How dare you? I paid you money for something I did myself in less than half the time."

"Then pay me for saving your friend's son, and solving his father's murder. I don't care what you pay me for, but you owe me money!" By this time I had join her in peering over the top of the couch. Her mother's face was the most peculiar shade of red; I decided I'd like to see her face that color more often. Her father was standing with his arms crossed over his chest glaring at Richard with open distain. Richard for his part was looking a step or two away from Judo tossing one of them across the room. It was all too much. Suddenly, she dipped back below the couch and dragged me with her. She pointed to another piece of furniture closer to the action and the stairs, and pulled me after her.

'Damn when did she get so strong?' I groused mentally as she shuffled us along behind the loveseat. She paused only long enough to make sure we hadn't been spotted before tugging us towards the stairs. 'I've had enough of this.' I dug in my heels and stared pointedly at the group still embroiled in a fight. Her mouth turned down into a small frown, and tugged again. I pulled back and shot her a heated look. 'I'm not moving just yet, get used to it.' The frown melded into a scowl and she moved closer to try for more leverage. I didn't budge, 'she's going to have to do better.' I wanted to get more time to observe her parents, maybe I could figure out why they are so loony about her safety. She was close enough that I could feel her angry stare burning into the side of my face. The tugs were more like violent yanks now, strong and insistent. 'Too bad you weigh so little "dancerella", or you'd be able to just drag me off.' I thought vindictively. She suddenly stopped pulling and pushed against me instead. Combined with my own resistance, I found myself on my back in an instant. Luckily for us both, Richard had chosen just the moment to scream something, hiding the sound of our scuffling. She straddled my hips, hands on her own, glaring down at me in frustration. 'Good, hope you are frustrated, you deserve it you obnoxious brat.' We locked eyes for a few tense seconds, electricity practically passing between us, before I noticed Anthony Johansson beginning to pace the room. She smirked in triumph when she saw it too, and slinked off my waist and back towards the stairs, all too confident I would follow. I hated it. I caught up to her on the edge of the piece of furniture we were currently hiding behind. With a glance sparred to makes sure we would be out of her father's sight when we moved, she rushed the stairs. She didn't even bother to drag me along. I resisted the urge to sigh, and snuck lightly after her. Before I knew it, we were up the stairs, safely down a few hallways and well out of earshot. "Looks like we're clear, so want to tell me where we are going?" I asked while glancing around the hall we were practically speeding through.

"My room." She answered just as quickly as she took another turn. I decided against stopping her in favor of absorbing more of the house.

'I have the distinct feeling this is going to come in handy.'

"So is Mr. Moore always so tenacious? Or is it only about certain subjects?"

"Who, Richard? Well he always gets this way about money, or his own cases, but usually he's a pretty easy-going guy."

"He lets you call him Richard?" I shrugged.

"Yeah he doesn't mind."

"That's…surprising. Perhaps my understanding of Japanese customs are off."

"Like I said he's an easy going guy. I try not to call him by his first name in front of other people, strangers, though." She smiled and said,

"Just me then? When did I pass out of the stranger category?" I didn't respond, but instead stood behind her as she swung a door open. She waltzed inside and held the door till I followed after her. A small click echoed through the room as she closed it. When I still didn't answer, she gave me that expectant look of hers. It was time to change subjects.

"I think he has his work cut for him." When she frowned, I clarified, "Trying to get money out of your parents."

"I see." She replied obviously not interested in the subject.

"Well I think he deserves it, he did was he was asked and then some."

"I don't." I shoved my confusion away.

"Why not? You are the one who wanted him…No you wanted me." I corrected myself. "You just needed him as an excuse. Why?"

"Why I needed him as an excuse?"

"Don't play hard to get."

"Fine. I find you interesting, is that a crime." I pursed my lips in response.

"I just don't like being looked at like some puzzle book." She hummed in response,

"That's honestly rather hilarious." It was my turn to raise an eyebrow. She continued with barely a pause. "You look at everything else like they are a puzzle book; one would think you wouldn't mind the treatment yourself." I started, startled by her accusation, and opened my mouth to protest. "Don't say you don't do that, you do." She smiled like a cat toying with a caged canary, knowing she had found something to pick at. "Maybe you are just a hypocrite, but I doubt it. No I think it's something else." She stopped and paced farther into the room. I followed after her, wanting to know where she was going with this. "I think you don't mind having people try to puzzle you out. The problem is you've hadn't had to worry about someone figuring it out before. You were an unknowable puzzle, so you were fine with people trying to puzzle you through, you knew it was useless for them. Now however," She hummed and tapped her chin in thought.

'Mostly just a show, I know she's had this conversation planned out for awhile.' I thought while she paused for show.

"Now, someone actually has a chance to figure you out, and it's a threat. Not a challenge."

"You threatening? Now that's funny." I threw her an amused smirk. Her eyes sparkled in response, and she stalked closer. I was beginning to feel like a prey. I hate this feeling.

"It would be hilarious if it wasn't true. The biggest problem with this theory is that you need something to be threatened. In other words, you have to have some vulnerability you feel I can get at to be threatened. And as far as I can tell, there's nothing."

"And yet, you are determined that I'm threatened nonetheless?" She hummed some more, this time more contemplative.

"I can't think of anything, but that doesn't mean there's nothing. As Carl Sagan says,-"

"The absence of evidence isn't the evidence of absence." She smirked and nodded and agreement.

"That's irrational. You've known me for a week, but you're already convinced of something of which you have no evidence."

"Now that's not what I said." I raised an eyebrow at this.

"Then why…" I smiled, 'she was talking about something else. Alright then.' "So then, what do you plan to do about it?" I posed.

"The same thing you plan to do about me." She said sliding into a chair. I paused to think through my response.

"So Candace could you answer me this before I respond?" She nodded in affirmation. "How do you like chess?" A broad grin broke out across her face, and I couldn't help but smile in response. 'This would actually be fun.' I thought pleasantly. Before I could delve any deeper into our self-appointed game, Richard came bursting through the door. He scowled into the room, before marching right over to me and picking me up without a word. 'No wait! It was just getting interesting. How can-Ah.' "Candace! How would you like to go with us to the Tanabata Festival?" Richard stopped half way out of her door, and glared down at me.

"If she wants to go, then her parents can take her."

"Oh but Mr. Moore, I've never gone, and my parents are going to be busy that day, I already asked them. Can't I just go with you?"

"Absolutely-"

"Truly?" She interrupted.

"I…wait-"

"Oh don't worry Mr. Moore, I won't be any trouble at all, I'll even bring my own money." She finished with a wide childish grin.

'Good one.' I thought impressed.

"Well, if you bring your own money, I…well alright, but don't cause any trouble." Richard frowned before saying, "And see if you can't get your parents to give me the cash they owe me. They really owe me after all this." He grumbled and shook his head. In between all this, he had set me back onto the ground. I saw him glare lightly down at me for having suggested the outing in the first place, and suddenly I wasn't so sure why _I_ had even done it.

'Doesn't this girl drive me nuts?' I looked back into the room, and Candace's grin had melded into a smirk. I was coming to recognize that look as well; it was her 'playful' game face. "I guess we can talk more then." She nodded and added before we were out of ear shot.

"I'll see you in Hiratsuka!" She then shut the door on a stunned Richard. He glanced down at me and I shrugged.

"I guess we are going to Hiratsuka this year right Uncle?" He grumbled something about trickster children and stalked off down towards the front of the house again. I walked after him, and reveled in the surprised faces of Candace's parents.

"I told you the brat was up there. Your kid wants to go to the Tanabata, and I'm apparently taking her, send her with some cash for food, and I'll see you Friday. Come on brat." Richard spat all of that at Anthony and Victoria, before establishing a brisk pace towards the door.

"It was fun visiting with your daughter; I'll see you Friday, goodbye Mr. and Mrs. Johansson." I said just as quickly as I jogged to the open front door. 'I think I'll remember their stunned jaw dropped faces for a while yet.' I thought smugly.

"Hey Conan?" Richard got my attention. I looked up and his fist collided into my head. "That you little brat, was getting me stuck watching their mini-demon spawn all Friday. Now let's get home." He plucked a cigarette out of his pack and plopped it into his mouth. I stopped and stared at the cavernous western style mansion, somewhere inside my opponent was waiting to resume our match.

'If I'm lucky, it'll stay a friendly match.' I thought hopeful.

"Hey! Get a move on Conan." I started after Richard with only one last glance sparred.

'Friday. Definitely Friday, I'll find out some answers to that walking puzzle.'

* * *

><p>Balshumet: O.O I thought I'd never finish this chapter. It was fun to try and get them to get along. They almost didn't manage it though. Hopefully, the next update will not be 6 months in the future or something. Whatever, enjoy and as always R&amp;R.<p> 


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